Trans Fat Consumption is Adversely Linked to Memory in Working-Age Adults
Beatrice Alexandra Golomb, Alexis K Bui, Univ of California San Diego, La Jolla, CA
American Heart Association (AHA) Scientific Session November 2014 Chicago
Abstract
Background: Dietary industrial trans fatty acids (dTFA) have prooxidant and cell energy harms. Food with antioxidant and cell energy benefits has been favorably linked to word memory in younger adults, prior to major age-induced variance.
Goal: We assessed the cross-sectional relation of dTFA to word-memory.
Participants: 1018 adult men age ≥20 and post-menopausal women without CAD, with LDL 115-190mg/dL, fasting glucose ≤142mg/dL, assessed in 1999-2004 (before dTFA regulation). Primary analyses focused on men, as only men (N=694) were represented in younger adult ages.
Measurements: “Recurrent words” (RecWd) assessed word memory. A Food Frequency Questionnaire (FFQ) estimated TFA (gms/day). An age-by-dTFA interaction was assessed. Regression, stratified at age 45, assessed the relation between RecWd and dTFA across models adjusting for potential confounders (see Table). Potential mediators were examined.
Results: An age-by-dTFA interaction was significant (P=0.025), supporting stratification. dTFA adversely predicted memory in age <45 (only), robust to adjustment model (Table). Findings were replicated in the full sample, including women (not shown). Each gm/day dTFA was associated with an estimated 0.76 fewer words recalled (full model), P=0.006 - yielding an estimated 11 fewer words at the highest dTFA intake vs none - from a mean of 86. Adjustment for SBP, waist and BMI (but not lipid or glycemic variables) attenuated the relationship, consistent with mediation by factors involving, relating to, or concurrently influencing, these factors.
Conclusion: Greater dTFA was significantly associated with worse word memory in adults aged 20-45 years, often critical years for career building. dTFA findings remain relevant because US regulations do not extend worldwide, and presumed dTFA mechanisms have relevance to other exposures. Prooxidant and energetic detriments of dTFA and triangulation with other evidence offer prospects for causality.
