The Effect of Dietary Sodium Intake on Cognition and Biomarkers of Brain Health

Project Outline:

To date, there has been lack of disease-modifying treatment or therapeutics to prevent Alzheimer’s Disease. In the absence of any effective treatment or cure, reducing or preventing the development of risk factors for dementia is crucial. Dietary recommendations for dementia prevention need to be based on strong scientific and clinical evidence and currently it remains unclear as to whether specific components of dietary patterns (such as low sodium) are more crucial than others in terms of their neuroprotective properties.

This study will investigate the relationship of dietary sodium intake to cognitive performance, rates of cognitive decline, and neuroimaging biomarkers of brain health, to establish the potential of reducing sodium intake to slow AD onset, utilizing longitudinal data from the Australian Imaging, Biomarker and Lifestyle (AIBL) study of Ageing and the Australian multidomain Approach to Reduce dementia Risk by protecting brain health With lifestyle intervention study (AU-ARROW), a 24-month multimodal lifestyle intervention.

Project Area: Medical Science (Neuroscience)

School / Research Centre / Institute : School of Medical and Health Sciences research

Supervisor(s): Dr Samantha Gardener, Professor Ralph Martins, Associate Professor Stephanie Rainey-Smith (Murdoch)

Project level: Masters and PhD

Funding: Applicant should apply for ECUHDR or RTP Scholarship

Start date: Ongoing