Tier 3 — preclinical

Association between dietary spermidine intake and cognitive performance in older adults: The U.S. National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey, 2011-2014

Yifan Ma, Leyao Qi, Fangyi Zhu, Mengjie Xiao, Mengyao Li, Xu Zhang, Xiaodi Yuan, Yuan Wang, Changhao Sun, Huanyu Wu

Journal of Affective Disorders 2025 381:174-182

Bibliography

PubMed: PMID 40180050
DOI: 10.1016/j.jad.2025.03.181

Study snapshot

Design	Cross-sectional NHANES analysis
Model	U.S. adults aged 60 years and older
Sample	2,674
Intervention	No intervention; estimated dietary spermidine intake
Duration	Cross-sectional, NHANES 2011-2014
Endpoints	Immediate recall; Delayed recall; Animal fluency; Digit symbol substitution; Composite cognitive Z-score

What the study showed, in plain terms

Older U.S. adults with higher estimated dietary spermidine intake performed better across several cognitive tests in this cross-sectional NHANES analysis.

Key findings

The highest intake quartile was associated with lower odds of poor performance, including OR 0.48 for the composite cognitive Z-score. This is an association, not evidence that supplementation improves cognition.

What this study can and cannot tell us

Cross-sectional design, dietary recall/estimation error, residual confounding and multiple cognitive outcomes. Reverse causation is possible.

Editorial review

Reviewed by the Biohack Blueprint research team

Khaled Mahmoud