1 . A University of Michigan (U-M) study has found that older adults’ regular visits to eateries such as fast food restaurants and coffee shops may be as protective of cognitive (认知的) health as marriage.
Lead researcher Jessica Finlay and her team interviewed 125 older adults aged 55-92 in Minneapolis, Minnesota, and accompanied them on visits to their neighborhood places. Through analysis of her interviews, they found that older adults valued these types of eateries as places of familiarity and comfort, places that were physically and economically accessible, and places to socialize with family, friends, staff and customers.
“Traditionally, fast food has a negative relationship with cognition — we know that diets high in fat and salt are associated with increased risk of cognitive decline,” said Finlay. “But as a geographer, I’m interested in the places themselves and what those spaces mean for the everyday lives of older adults.”
There is one interviewee called Denise. “It was an expensive month with a wedding and two unexpected funerals (葬礼), and these events ate up her budget (预算),” the researchers wrote. “Though she could not afford restaurant meals regularly, Denise still enjoyed inexpensive coffee with her friends as a valued opportunity to socialize.”
Finlay’s research at U-M focuses on how neighborhoods may help reduce or increase risk for Alzheimer’s disease. She assumed that regular socialization and leisure activities that take place in these places might be linked to cognitive health.
Finlay and U-M researcher Michael Esposito tested this idea in a national cohort by drawing on the Reasons for Geographic and Racial Differences in Stroke, or REGARDS, study, which collects information by mail and telephone from more than 30,000 aging individuals. The participants were an average age of 64 in 2003-2007.
REGARDS respondents living in the most limited retail food (零售食品) environments had cognitive scores that were modestly lower — about 0.1 points — than residents living in the highest density (密度) environments. The difference in cognitive well-being between individuals living in high-density and low-density neighborhoods was about a year difference in age, which is strongly linked to age-related cognitive decline in older adults.
“My side of the project was translating what Finlay found in her qualitative results over to the national level, blowing it up to see if some of those associations she inferred from her study in Minnesota held for the nation at large — and they did,” said Esposito.
1. What is the new study concerning seniors mainly about?| A．Their great love for fast food. |
| B．Their usual choices while eating outside. |
| C．The impact of marriage on their cognition. |
| D．The link between restaurant visits and their health. |
| A．They offer an affordable way to make social interactions. |
| B．They provide her with a lot of unexpected surprises. |
| C．She enjoys high-fat and salty foods served there. |
| D．She takes part in important activities there. |
| A．She interviewed its respondents. |
| B．She visited the places mentioned in it. |
| C．She reached a conclusion based on its data. |
| D．She compared it with her research at U-M. |
| A．Its results are applicable nationally. |
| B．It should be done outside Minnesota. |
| C．It offers a treatment for Alzheimer’s disease. |
| D．Its respondents should cover other age groups. |
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