Published on: Jun 09, 2025
A new study led by Boeun Kim, assistant professor at the University of Iowa College of Nursing, has found that older adults living in urban neighborhoods with poor access to healthy food are more likely to experience faster cognitive decline.
The research analyzed data from nearly 4,800 adults aged 65 and older from diverse racial backgrounds across urban areas in the U.S. The findings revealed that individuals residing in “unhealthy food environments”—areas defined by both low income and limited access to nutritious food options—showed a more rapid decline in cognitive function compared to those living in better-resourced neighborhoods.
To conduct the study, Kim’s team integrated data from the U.S. Department of Agriculture’s Food Access Research Atlas with the National Health and Aging Trends Study, a nationally representative dataset of Medicare beneficiaries aged 65 and older. Even after accounting for individual socioeconomic factors like income and education, the researchers found a clear link between living in food-insecure, low-income neighborhoods and accelerated cognitive aging.
“The food environment is a crucial social determinant of health that’s often overlooked in studies of cognitive aging,” said Kim. “Nutrition plays a vital role in brain health, and older adults frequently face mobility, financial, and social challenges that limit their access to healthy food. We wanted to understand if disparities in neighborhood food access could contribute to the pace of cognitive decline.”
The study’s results remained consistent after controlling for variables such as race, gender, education, income, geographic region, and broader neighborhood conditions.
The findings underscore the importance of addressing food insecurity and economic inequality as part of comprehensive public health strategies to protect cognitive health in aging populations.
“This research points to the food environment as a structural risk factor for faster cognitive decline among urban-dwelling older adults,” the authors noted.
Additionally, the study found that Black and Latinx seniors were disproportionately affected, more often residing in neighborhoods with both low income and limited food access—a pattern Kim attributes to long-standing systemic inequities such as redlining and disinvestment.
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