ORIGINAL RESEARCH article
Front. Nutr.
Sec. Nutritional Epidemiology
Volume 12 - 2025 | doi: 10.3389/fnut.2025.1638315
This article is part of the Research TopicNutrition in Neurodegeneration: Bridging Diet, Brain, and Eye HealthView all articles
The association between dietary fiber intake and cognitive function: mediating role of inflammatory markers
Provisionally accepted
- School of Public Health, Jilin University, Changchun, China
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Aims: Cognitive impairment, frequently associated with neurodegenerative diseases such as Alzheimer's disease, may be associated with multiple factors including dietary fiber intake and inflammation. We aimed to explore the associations between reported dietary fiber intake, three novel inflammatory markers, and cognitive function. Methods: This observational and exploratory cross-sectional study utilized the data from the 2011–2014 of the National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey (NHANES). Digit Symbol Substitution Test (DSST), Establishing Alzheimer's Disease Word Learning Registry Consortium (CERAD-WL), Delayed Recall (CERAD-DR), and Animal Fluency tests (AFT) were used to assess the cognitive function. Linear regression was conducted to explore the relationships between reported dietary fiber intake, three novel inflammatory markers (Albumin-to-alkaline phosphatase ratio [AAPR], Neutrophil-to-Albumin Ratio [NAR], and Systemic Inflammation Response Index [SIRI]) and cognitive function. Mediation analysis was performed to identify the mediating role of inflammatory markers in the relationship between reported dietary fiber intake and cognitive function. Results: The final analysis included 2461 participants. Reported dietary fiber intake was associated with CERAD-WL (β = 0.042, 95%CI = 0.018 to 0.066), AFT (β = 0.060, 95%CI = 0.020 to 0.100) and inflammatory markers (AAPR: β = 0.003, 95%CI=0.002 to 0.004; NAR: β = -0.003, 95%CI = -0.006 to -0.001; SIRI: β = -0.008, 95%CI = -0.015 to -0.001). AAPR was positively associated with WL (β = 1.184, 95%CI = 0.165 to 2.204) and AFT (β = 1.747, 95%CI = 0.229 to 3.264). AAPR mediated the positive association between reported dietary fiber intake and AFT, with mediation proportion of 17.88%. Conclusions: Reported dietary fiber intake, inflammatory markers, and cognitive function were pairwise associated. The AAPR played a mediating role in the association between reported dietary fiber intake and cognitive function.
Keywords: cognitive function1, dietary fiber intake2, inflammatory markers3, NHANES4, mediation analysis5
Received: 30 May 2025; Accepted: 02 Sep 2025.
Copyright: © 2025 Yan, Wang, Wang, Chen, Zong, Tian, Zhao and Li. This is an open-access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License (CC BY). The use, distribution or reproduction in other forums is permitted, provided the original author(s) or licensor are credited and that the original publication in this journal is cited, in accordance with accepted academic practice. No use, distribution or reproduction is permitted which does not comply with these terms.
* Correspondence: Bo Li, School of Public Health, Jilin University, Changchun, China
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