Low-carbohydrate and low-fat diets, genetic susceptibility, and long-term risk of dementia: A prospective…

Cohort studyThe American journal of clinical nutrition· Aug 2026

Low-carbohydrate and low-fat diets, genetic susceptibility, and long-term risk of dementia: A prospective cohort study.

Hui Chen, Zhiyuan Wu, Tian Ge … Changzheng Yuan

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Cognitive & DementiaCohort studyPrognosisQ1IF 5.5

Higher low-carbohydrate diet adherence associated with lower dementia risk in older adults

Low-carbohydrate and low-fat diets, genetic susceptibility, and long-term risk of dementia: A prospective cohort study.

Hui Chen … Changzheng Yuan

The American journal of clinical nutrition · Aug 2026 · Q1 in General Medicine

Background

Low-carbohydrate and low-fat diets (LCDs and LFDs) are promoted for cardiometabolic prevention.

Purpose

This study examined associations of LCDs and LFDs with incident dementia and evaluated modification by genetic susceptibility.

Methods

We included 5301 dementia-free adults aged ≥55 years from the Health and Retirement Study.

n = 506 participants

Results

greater low-carb adherence linked to lower dementia risk

HR 0.90 (95% CI 0.82 to 0.99)

CI excludes the null - significant

More results

During the 9-year follow-up, 506 participants developed dementia.

Associations were consistent across APOE genotype and alzheimer disease polygenic risk score strata.

Higher plant-based and healthy LCDs were also associated with better global and domain-specific cognitive performance.

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Conclusion · 1 of 2

Adherence to LCDs, particularly plant-based and higher-quality LCDs, was associated with lower dementia risk, consistently across genetic susceptibility strata.

Conclusion · 2 of 2

These findings underscored the importance of macronutrient quality, in addition to quantity, in promoting cognitive health.

Low-carbohydrate and low-fat diets, genetic susceptibility, and long-term risk of dementia: A prospective cohort study.

Low-carbohydrate and low-fat diets, genetic susceptibility, and long-term risk of dementia: A prospective cohort study.

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