# Lifecourse food insecurity and dementia risk

> **NIH NIH RF1** · UNIVERSITY OF CALIFORNIA, SAN FRANCISCO · 2022 · $2,410,106

## Abstract

PROJECT ABSTRACT
Dementia is the 6th leading cause of death in the U.S. with marked disparities by socioeconomic status,
gender, and race/ethnicity. Food insecurity is a common experience in U.S. children and adults, and it likely
influences Alzheimer's Disease and Alzheimer's Related Dementias (AD/ADRD) via multiple mechanisms. Yet,
there is almost no quantitative research evaluating food insecurity and AD/ADRD. The very limited prior work in
this area is cross-sectional which introduces challenges: 1) the temporal ordering of food insecurity and
cognitive performance is ambiguous; 2) researchers are unable to disentangle if acute vs. chronic food
insecurity differentially impacts dementia risk; and 3) measuring cognitive assessments at a single time point
precludes the possibility of evaluating cognitive decline. Through innovative uses of the U.S. Health and
Retirement Study (HRS), and the National Longitudinal Survey of Youth, 1979 cohort (NLSY79), the proposed
research fills this critical gap. Both data sources collect prospective information on food insecurity and
dementia risk among older adults (HRS), and across the lifecourse (NLSY79). We will leverage the
complementary strengths of these datasets to evaluate: [1] if food insecurity among older adults predicts
dementia risk (Aim 1; HRS); [2] if lifecourse food insecurity (from ages 18 – 48) predicts dementia risk (Aim 2;
NLY79); and [3] if Supplemental Nutritional Assistant Program (SNAP) benefit amount patterns (ages 18 – 48)
predict dementia risk (Aim 3; NLY79; SNAP is a federal food insecurity alleviation program). This innovative
work on lifecourse food insecurity is possible through our novel application of sequence analysis, which will be
applied to markers of food insecurity collected over time in both nationally representative data sources. Our
research questions focus on food insecurity, which is a modifiable target for AD/ADRD prevention that is
biologically plausible, common, and potentially high impact through existing policy interventions, such as
SNAP.

## Key facts

- **NIH application ID:** 10525485
- **Project number:** 1RF1AG079202-01
- **Recipient organization:** UNIVERSITY OF CALIFORNIA, SAN FRANCISCO
- **Principal Investigator:** SUZANNA M MARTINEZ
- **Activity code:** RF1 (R01, R21, SBIR, etc.)
- **Funding institute:** NIH
- **Fiscal year:** 2022
- **Award amount:** $2,410,106
- **Award type:** 1
- **Project period:** 2022-09-01 → 2025-08-31

## Primary source

NIH RePORTER: https://reporter.nih.gov/project-details/10525485

## Citation

> US National Institutes of Health, RePORTER application 10525485, Lifecourse food insecurity and dementia risk (1RF1AG079202-01). Retrieved via AI Analytics 2026-05-28 from https://api.ai-analytics.org/grant/nih/10525485. Licensed CC0.

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