Precision nutrition promotes brain health and prevents cognitive impairment

The number of individuals suffering from cognitive impairment and related neurodegenerative diseases (such as Alzheimer’s disease) is increasing rapidly, which has become a significant challenge to global public health. In recent years, precision nutrition, as an emerging dietary intervention strategy, has shown great potential in brain health maintenance as well as in both the prevention and treatment of cognitive impairment. The Mediterranean diet is associated with a reduced risk of cognitive impairment, while the Western diet is related to worse cognitive performance. However, existing studies still have limitations to heterogeneities in study design and confounding factors in observational data. This review systematically summarizes the latest evidence of dietary patterns such as the Mediterranean diet, MIND diet, and ketogenic diet, along with precision nutrition strategies based on genes, metabolomics, and microbiomes, exploring the effects of nutrition on brain health through multiple mechanisms such as regulating brain energy metabolism, altering intestinal microbiota, inhibiting inflammation and oxidative stress, and modulating epigenetic modifications.