Table 2.

Association between dietary UPF (as tertiles of % of total energy intake) and cognitive performance in adults ≥ 60 years old from NHANES 2011–2014 (n = 2713)

	Model 1		Model 2		Model 3		Model 4
	β (95% CI)	P value	β (95% CI)	P value	β (95% CI)	P value	β (95% CI)	P value
CERAD recall
T1 (Reference)	–	–	–	–	–	–	–	–
T2	− 0.07 (− 0.61, 0.46)	0.786	− 0.05 (− 0.48, 0.39)	0.823	− 0.05 (− 0.49, 0.39)	0.818	− 0.04 (− 0.50, 0.40)	0.857
T3	− 0.38 (− 0.93, 0.16)	0.162	− 0.35 (− 0.87, 0.16)	0.170	− 0.35 (− 0.87, 0.16)	0.167	− 0.32 (− 0.85, 0.19)	0.212
P for-trend		0.151		0.168		0.165		0.209
CERAD delayed recall
T1 (Reference)	–	–	–	–	–	–	–	–
T2	− 0.04 (− 0.37, 0.29)	0.808	0.01 (− 0.26, 0.28)	0.934	0.01 (− 0.26, 0.28)	0.925	0.02 (− 0.25, 0.29)	0.888
T3	− 0.03 (− 0.31, 0.25)	0.815	0.01 (− 0.29, 0.31)	0.948	0.02 (− 0.28, 0.32)	0.914	0.04 (− 0.26, 0.33)	0.799
P for-trend		0.822		0.951		0.917		0.801
Animal fluency
T1 (Reference)	–	–	–	–	–	–	–	–
T2	0.17 (− 0.67, 1.01)	0.681	0.00 (− 0.64, 0.64)	0.997	0.03 (− 0.59, 0.65)	0.920	0.04 (− 0.56, 0.65)	0.887
T3	− 0.30 (− 1.08, 0.47)	0.434	− 0.24 (− 0.83, 0.35)	0.405	− 0.19 (− 0.76, 0.38)	0.507	− 0.15 (− 0.69, 0.39)	0.583
P for-trend		0.389		0.383		0.483		0.560
Digit symbol
T1 (Reference)	–	–	–	–	–	–	–	–
T2	0.52 (− 1.94, 2.99)	0.667	0.39 (− 1.14, 1.93)	0.603	0.43 (− 1.08, 1.94)	0.566	0.56 (− 0.98, 2.1)	0.464
T3	− 0.57 (− 2.57, 1.44)	0.569	− 0.20 (− 1.73, 1.32)	0.778	− 0.08 (− 1.60, 1.45)	0.918	0.29 (− 1.2, 1.8)	0.700
P for-trend		0.529		0.750		0.881		0.727

Model 1: unadjusted

Model 2: demographics (age, gender, ethnicity, education, and poverty–income ratio)

Model 3: demographics, lifestyle factors (physical activity and smoking status)

Model 4: demographics, lifestyle factor, BMI, and chronic diseases (history CVD, diabetes, and depression)

UPF ultra-processed food