Association of dietary sodium intake with late-life cognitive decline and postmortem neuropathology in…

Cross-sectionalAlzheimer's & dementia : the journal of the Alzheimer's Association· Oct 2025

Association of dietary sodium intake with late-life cognitive decline and postmortem neuropathology in community-dwelling older adults.

Han Tong, Ana W Capuano, Puja Agarwal … Zoe Arvanitakis

NeuropathologyCross-sectionalQ1IF 11.9

Lowest sodium intake quintile linked to faster cognitive decline than middle quintile

Association of dietary sodium intake with late-life cognitive decline and postmortem neuropathology in community-dwelling older adults.

Han Tong … Zoe Arvanitakis

Alzheimer's & dementia · Oct 2025

Background

Studies link sodium intake to cognition, but most were cross-sectional, and associations with neuropathology remain unclear.

Methods

1520 community-dwelling adults (mean age 80.7 years) had annual evaluations (mean follow-up 7.6 years), including 19 neuropsychological tests and a food frequency questionnaires (food frequency questionnaires).

n = 1520 community-dwelling adults

Results

this low intake was tied to faster cognitive decline and more tau tangles

1764mg/day

Lowest quintile

2264mg/day

Middle quintile

2800mg/day

Highest quintile

More results

Among the deceased, the lowest quintile was associated with higher immunohistochemistry-based tau tangle density, but not with amyloid burden or infarcts.

DISCUSSION: Low dietary sodium intake is associated with faster cognitive decline and more neuropathology, specifically tangles.

More results

Dietary sodium likely plays a role in brain health.

Among 1520 older adults without known dementia followed annually for 7.6 years, low sodium intake was associated with faster decline in global cognition.

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Conclusion

Among a subset who died and came to autopsy, low sodium intake was associated with higher tangle density, but not with amyloid burden or infarcts.