MedTrace Logo

Cooking Health-Oriented Meals to Prevent Dementia and Diabetes

NCT07661368 · Status: NOT_YET_RECRUITING · Phase: NA · Type: INTERVENTIONAL · Enrollment: 40

Last updated 2026-06-22

No results posted yet for this study

Summary

Previous research demonstrates that 1) adherence to a DASH dietary pattern and diets low in certain UPFs are linked to lower likelihood of experiencing cognitive impairments in later life (Seago et al., 2025a, 2025b), that 2) engagement in cooking is linked to healthier eating, reduced UPF consumption, and higher food self-efficacy (Lahne et al., 2017), and 3) that cooking activity itself in midlife is associated with reduced incidence of dementia (Tani et al., 2026). There may be multiple pathways through which cooking engagement facilitates healthier cognitive aging- including the benefits of healthier meals on cardiometabolic and neural health, but also the role of cooking as a cognitively-engaging activity - one that has been identified as a potential contributor to cognitive reserve during aging. While at least one computerized cognitive training program is based on cooking activities and has demonstrated improvements to untrained EF processes in older adults, no intervention has used actual cooking as a form of cognitive training. Part of the promise of such an intervention is that this sort of activity, while still engaging EF processes in a way that might lead to generalizable improvements, is much closer to real-world instrumental activities of daily living and may reinforce consumption of a brain- and cardiometabolic- health promoting dietary pattern. This pilot study involves a randomized controlled trial of a behavioral change intervention to promote a healthy diet by increasing cooking self-efficacy (agency), and for this study, cooking self-efficacy is the primary focus.

Conditions

Interventions

BEHAVIORAL

Cooking skills training

For four weeks, participants (n=20) attend an in-person cooking class once per week (1-1.5 hours), followed by an at-home cooking practice session (1 hour), and at-home cognitive training on their smartphones (3 times per week, 10 minutes per session)

BEHAVIORAL

Cooking skills education

For four weeks, participants (n=20) receive nutrition educational handouts with recipes or cooking tips for healthy, balanced meals via email.

Sponsors & Collaborators

  • Virginia Polytechnic Institute and State University

    lead OTHER

Study Design

Allocation
RANDOMIZED
Purpose
PREVENTION
Masking
NONE
Model
PARALLEL

Eligibility

Min Age
50 Years
Max Age
75 Years
Sex
ALL
Healthy Volunteers
Yes

Timeline & Regulatory

Start
2026-07-31
Primary Completion
2026-12-31
Completion
2026-12-31

More Related Trials

Entities

Diseases

Read the full study record

This page highlights key information. For complete eligibility criteria, study locations, investigator contacts, and the full protocol, visit the original record on ClinicalTrials.gov.

View NCT07661368 on ClinicalTrials.gov