{"status":"ok","message-type":"work","message-version":"1.0.0","message":{"indexed":{"date-parts":[[2026,5,20]],"date-time":"2026-05-20T21:01:05Z","timestamp":1779310865961,"version":"3.51.4"},"reference-count":54,"publisher":"Frontiers Media SA","license":[{"start":{"date-parts":[[2025,4,9]],"date-time":"2025-04-09T00:00:00Z","timestamp":1744156800000},"content-version":"vor","delay-in-days":0,"URL":"https:\/\/creativecommons.org\/licenses\/by\/4.0\/"}],"content-domain":{"domain":["frontiersin.org"],"crossmark-restriction":true},"short-container-title":["Front. Nutr."],"abstract":"<jats:sec><jats:title>Background<\/jats:title><jats:p>Vitamin D is known to have a potential impact on cognitive function and mental health. This study aims to assess the association between dietary vitamin D intake and cognitive performance, as well as depression, in an elderly U.S. population.<\/jats:p><\/jats:sec><jats:sec><jats:title>Methods<\/jats:title><jats:p>Data from the National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey (NHANES) 2013\u20132014 were analyzed. A total of 1,344 elderly participants were categorized into three tertiles based on their dietary vitamin D intake (D2\u202f+\u202fD3). Cognitive function was measured using the Consortium to Establish a Registry for Alzheimer\u2019s Disease (CERAD) test, Digit Symbol Substitution Test (DSST), and Animal Fluency Test, while depression was assessed through the Patient Health Questionnaire-9 (PHQ-9). Adjustments were made for confounding variables, including age, sex, race, education, physical activity level, and other dietary factors.<\/jats:p><\/jats:sec><jats:sec><jats:title>Results<\/jats:title><jats:p>After adjustment for confounders, individuals in the 3rd tertile of vitamin D intake (\u22654.9 mcg\/day) had significantly reduced odds of low performance on the CERAD test (OR: 0.77, 95% CI: 0.57\u20130.98; <jats:italic>p<\/jats:italic> =\u202f0.031) and Animal Fluency test (OR: 0.63, 95% CI: 0.49\u20130.85; <jats:italic>p<\/jats:italic> =\u202f0.013) compared to the 1st tertile of intake (\u22642.4 mcg\/day). Similarly, participants in the 3rd tertile of vitamin D intake had lower odds of depression (PHQ-9 score\u202f&amp;gt;\u202f4) after adjustment (OR: 0.68, 95% CI: 0.48\u20130.99; <jats:italic>p<\/jats:italic> =\u202f0.046).<\/jats:p><\/jats:sec><jats:sec><jats:title>Conclusion<\/jats:title><jats:p>Our findings suggest that dietary vitamin D intake is associated with improved cognitive function and depressive symptoms in elderly individuals. However, further longitudinal studies are needed to establish causality and explore the underlying mechanisms.<\/jats:p><\/jats:sec>","DOI":"10.3389\/fnut.2025.1564568","type":"journal-article","created":{"date-parts":[[2025,4,9]],"date-time":"2025-04-09T14:09:16Z","timestamp":1744207756000},"update-policy":"https:\/\/doi.org\/10.3389\/crossmark-policy","source":"Crossref","is-referenced-by-count":2,"title":["Higher dietary vitamin D intake influences brain and mental function in elderly Americans: a cross-sectional analysis"],"prefix":"10.3389","volume":"12","author":[{"given":"Huizhen","family":"Chen","sequence":"first","affiliation":[],"role":[{"role":"author","vocabulary":"crossref"}]},{"given":"Xing","family":"Pang","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[],"role":[{"role":"author","vocabulary":"crossref"}]},{"given":"Yinhui","family":"Huang","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[],"role":[{"role":"author","vocabulary":"crossref"}]}],"member":"1965","published-online":{"date-parts":[[2025,4,9]]},"reference":[{"key":"ref1","doi-asserted-by":"publisher","first-page":"53","DOI":"10.5535\/arm.22027","article-title":"Dementia epidemiology fact sheet 2022","volume":"46","author":"Shin","year":"2022","journal-title":"Ann Rehabil Med"},{"key":"ref2","doi-asserted-by":"publisher","first-page":"21501319231152758","DOI":"10.1177\/21501319231152758","article-title":"Increasing identification and follow-up of older adult depression in primary 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