Higher plant content of diet attenuates effects of air pollution on cognition

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Quantifier
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Higher plant content of diet attenuates effects of air pollution on cognition

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See Interaction between plant-based dietary pattern and air pollution on cognitive function: a prospective cohort analysis of Chinese older adults

They had 6525 participants, age 65 and higher at baseline, all with normal cognition, with followup of 5.6 years on average. They measured air pollution near the participants' residential addresses over time (PM2.5 measurement), assessed plant content of diet using a food frequency questionnaire (it seems this was only done at baseline?), and used MMSE to measure cognition longitudinally.

They show dose-dependence for developing poor cognition in relation to air pollution (both cumulative and average over time), and also that people with a high PDI (plant-diet index) score having lower risk than those with a low PDI score. I noticed though that the attenuation of cognitive decline is stronger at moderate levels of pollution than at the highest levels - there is probably a limit to what one can fix with diet.
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