Associations of plasma ergothioneine levels with cognitive function change in non-demented older Chinese adults: A community-based longitudinal study

Aim Animal studies have reported that ergothioneine (ET) exert a protective effect on cognitive function, but evidence from humans remains limited. In this study, we explored the association between plasma ET levels and cognitive change in a prospective cohort study specifically focused on older adults without dementia in Shanghai. Methods This analysis was based on 1,131 community-dwelling elder Chinese (mean age 69 years) from the Shanghai Brain Aging Study. Ultra-high-performance liquid chromatography-mass spectrometry was used to measure plasma ET at baseline. Cognitive function was assessed at baseline and follow-up (mean 2.0 years) via the Montreal Cognitive Assessment (MoCA) by trained clinicians. Multivariable linear regression evaluated ET-cognition associations with confounder adjustment. Results Each 1-SD increase in ET was associated with a 0.23 higher point in MoCA changes (95% CI: 0.04–0.43, P =0.021) after adjustment for age, sex, smoking, alcohol, diet score, educational level, BMI, hypertension, hyperlipidemia, diabetes, cardiovascular disease, APOE ε4 status and baseline MoCA scores. Sex-stratified analysis revealed a significant association in men ( β =0.78 per SD, 95% CI: 0.35–1.21, P < 0.001), but not in women ( P for interaction = 0.017). Dose-response curves indicated plateauing effects above 1000 ng/mL. Domain-specific analyses identified significant protective associations for visuospatial/executive function ( β =0.08, 95% CI: 0.02–0.14) and delayed recall ( β =0.11, 95% CI: 0.02–0.20). Conclusions Our findings indicate that higher plasma ET levels are significantly associated with slower cognitive decline independent of confounders in non-demented community-dwelling elderly participants, with such association observed in men but not women.