Olive Oil Intake Associated with Increased Attention Scores in Women Living with HIV: Findings from the Chicago Women’s Interagency HIV Study

Abstract

Women aging with human immunodeficiency virus (HIV) are particularly vulnerable to cognitive decline. Recent studies have highlighted the potential protective effects of olive oil on cognition in persons living without HIV. We sought to evaluate the association between olive oil consumption and domain-specific cognitive performance (dCog) t-scores (adjusted for age, race, education, reading level, practice effects) in women living with HIV (WLWH) and sociodemographically similar women living without HIV. A total of 166 women (113 WLWH and 53 women living without HIV) participating in the Cook County Women’s Interagency HIV Study (WIHS) completed cognitive testing and a Block 2014 Food Frequency Questionnaire within 18 months. Use of olive oil was associated with a 4.2 point higher attention/concentration (p = 0.02), 4.0 point higher for verbal learning (p = 0.02), and 1.91 point higher for verbal memory (p = 0.05). Associations between using olive oil and attention/concentration cognitive domain were seen in WLWH but not in women living without HIV. Associations between olive oil and verbal learning and memory were only seen in women without HIV. Our data suggest that using olive oil as a primary cooking oil may contribute to differential effects in attention/concentration, verbal learning, and verbal memory between women living with and without HIV.