How not having enough food at different ages may affect risk of Alzheimer's and related dementias
Official title: Lifecourse food insecurity and dementia risk
Funded at University of California, San Francisco · NIH-11297632 · Data updated 2026-11-12
This project looks at whether periods of not having enough food during childhood, adulthood, or older age change the chance of developing Alzheimer's disease and related dementias in later life.
Quick facts
| Grant type | NIH-funded research |
|---|---|
| Study type | NIH-funded research |
| Funding institution | University of California, San Francisco NIH-funded |
| Lab location | 1 site (San Francisco, United States) |
| Project start | September 1, 2022 |
| Project end | August 31, 2027 |
| Funding year | 2025 |
| Award (this year) | $1,594,439 |
| NIH project number | 4RF1AG079202-02 |
| Project ID | NIH-11297632 on NIH RePORTER |
Who could benefit from this research
✓Could help
People who experienced food insecurity at some point in life—especially older adults with histories of food hardship—or anyone already enrolled in large U.S. aging cohorts are the most relevant group for this work.
✕Less likely to help
People without information about food access or cognitive testing in those national datasets, or those with dementia from clearly non-social causes, are unlikely to see direct benefits from these analyses.
What this research studies
Researchers will use long-running U.S. population studies (the Health and Retirement Study and the National Longitudinal Survey of Youth 1979) that collected repeated information on food security and cognitive health. They will compare people who experienced short-term versus long-term food insecurity across the lifecourse and link those patterns to later dementia risk and cognitive decline. The team will also examine how patterns of SNAP (food assistance) benefits over time relate to dementia outcomes. Analyses will focus on timing (when food insecurity happens), duration (acute versus chronic), and trajectories of cognitive change.
Why it matters
Potential benefit: If successful, the work could point to when food-related hardship matters most for brain health and guide nutrition or policy actions to lower dementia risk.
How similar studies have gone: Very few prior studies exist and most were one-time, cross-sectional analyses, so this lifecourse, longitudinal approach is relatively novel.
Where this research is happening
-
University of California, San Francisco
San Francisco, United States Active
Researchers
- Principal investigator: Martinez, Suzanna M — University of California, San Francisco
- Study coordinator: Martinez, Suzanna M
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About this research
- This is an active NIH-funded research project — typically early-stage science, not a clinical trial accepting patient enrollment.
- Some NIH-funded labs run parallel clinical studies or seek volunteers for related work. To check, contact the principal investigator or institution listed above.
- For full project details, budget, and progress reports, visit the official NIH RePORTER page.