ORIGINAL RESEARCH article
Front. Nutr.
Sec. Nutritional Epidemiology
Volume 12 - 2025 | doi: 10.3389/fnut.2025.1581610
Association of serum 25(OH)D3 and cognitive levels with biological aging in the elderly: a cross-sectional study
Provisionally accepted
Mingkai Li1
Chenyang Li1Le Cheng1
Chenhui Lv1
Lushan Xue1
Cheng Zhang1Ziping Bai2
Xi Wang1
Shuangzhi Chen1Qinfei Guo1Yafei Zhao1
Haifeng Zhao1*- 1Shanxi Medical University, Taiyuan, China
- 2Fudan University, Shanghai, Shanghai Municipality, China
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Background: Biological aging, a fundamental process affecting health and longevity, is pivotal to understanding the physiological decline associated with aging. Serum vitamin D3 deficiency and cognitive impairment are common health issues among older adults. However, the joint associations of serum vitamin D levels and cognitive impairment with biological aging remain poorly understood. This study aims to evaluate the independent and combined associations of serum vitamin D3 and cognitive impairment with biological aging in older adults.This cross-sectional study included adults aged 60 years and older from the 2011-2014 National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey (NHANES). Biological aging was measured using Phenotypic Age calculated from biomarkers. Cognitive performance was assessed using the Centre for the Establishment of a Registry for Alzheimer's Disease (CERAD) test, the Animal Fluency test (AFT), and the Digit Symbol Substitution test (DSST). Multivariable regression and restricted cubic spline models were used to examine the relationships between serum 25(OH)D3 levels, cognitive performance, and biological aging.After adjusting for all covariates, individuals in the highest quartile of cognitive performance had a reduced risk of biological aging compared to those in the lowest quartile (CERAD: OR 0.91; 95% CI, 0.57-1.46; AFT: OR 0.48; 95% CI, 0.29-0.82; DSST: OR 0.43; 95% CI, 0.24-0.77). A U-shaped relationship was observed between serum 25(OH)D3 levels and biological aging. Combined analyses revealed that individuals with both low serum 25(OH)D3 and low cognitive performance had the highest risk of biological aging across all cognitive tests (CERAD:
Keywords: NHANES, serum 25(OH)D3, Cognition, biological aging, Phenotypic Age, Older adult
Received: 22 Feb 2025; Accepted: 24 Apr 2025.
Copyright: © 2025 Li, Li, Cheng, Lv, Xue, Zhang, Bai, Wang, Chen, Guo, Zhao and Zhao. This is an open-access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License (CC BY). The use, distribution or reproduction in other forums is permitted, provided the original author(s) or licensor are credited and that the original publication in this journal is cited, in accordance with accepted academic practice. No use, distribution or reproduction is permitted which does not comply with these terms.
* Correspondence: Haifeng Zhao, Shanxi Medical University, Taiyuan, China
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