(P22-041-24) Association Between Dietary Quality and Diurnal Salivary Cortisol in Hispanics/Latinos at Risk for Alzheimer’s Disease

Objectives: A relationship between an unhealthy diet, cognition, and biological stress as measured by cortisol may be found in the literature, however studies confirming these relationships in Hispanics/Latinos are lacking. The objective of this study was to examine the association between dietary quality and the diurnal cortisol slope in midlife Hispanic/Latino adults at risk for Alzheimer’s disease (AD).

Methods: A cross-sectional data analysis from an observational longitudinal study was conducted on 47 adults at risk for AD. After obtaining informed consent, validated questionnaires on demographics were collected. Three 24-hour recalls were collected and used to calculate the Healthy Eating Index (HEI) 2015, a measure of diet quality. Salivary cortisol levels were measured at wake-up and bedtime using ELISA (Salimetrics LLC, Carlsbad, CA). Diurnal cortisol slope or the absolute change in cortisol from wake-up to bedtime divided by elapsed time was calculated. Linear regression models examined the relationship between diet quality and the diurnal cortisol slope while controlling for age, sex, and race.

Results: The mean age was 53.22 (SD=5.29) years, 93.62% were female, and 89.36% were White. The mean HEI score was 56.86 (SD=11.83) and mean daily cortisol level was 0.40 (SD=0.36) µg/dL. Total HEI score and the diurnal cortisol slope was not significantly associated. (β=-3.034 x 10-6, SE=3.040 x 10-6, p=0.324) The combined HEI moderation components (refined grains, sodium, added sugars and saturated fats) as a variable was significantly associated with the diurnal cortisol slope (β=-1.448 x 10-5, SE=7.071 x 10-6, p=0.047). The combined adequacy components of HEI (total fruits, whole fruits, total vegetables, greens and beans, whole grains, dairy, total protein foods, seafood and plant proteins and fatty acids) were not significantly associated with the diurnal cortisol slope (p=0.540).

Conclusions: The dietary elements or moderation components of the HEI that increase the risk of chronic diseases, if consumed in excess, seem to drive the relationship between diet quality and the diurnal cortisol slope. Additional research is needed to observe this relationship over time, especially in Hispanics/Latinos as they are at greater risk for AD than non-Hispanic White populations.

Funding Sources: NIMHD