Childhood literacy and hunger had different links to cognitive aging
Two Chinese cohorts—17,626 adults studied during 2011–2018 and 42,633 during 1998–2018—showed generally widening literacy-related cognitive gaps but generally narrowing childhood-hunger-related gaps with age.
42,633 participants
Limit: Childhood hunger relied on participants’ recollections, which can be inaccurate
Edited by Boris Djordjevic · AgingResearch.News
An observational study analyzed 17,626 Chinese adults aged 45–100 and 42,633 aged 65–105. Researchers modeled age-related changes using survey tests of memory and other thinking skills, schooling information, and reports of frequently going to bed hungry in childhood. Analyses linking childhood conditions to cognitive change covered ages 45–65 in the first cohort and 65–105 in the second.
Both childhood illiteracy and hunger were associated with lower cognitive scores after adjustment for demographic factors. Gaps associated with illiteracy generally widened with age. Gaps associated with childhood hunger generally narrowed, although they widened slightly between ages 65 and 80. Overall, scores remained stable in early midlife, declined gradually in late midlife and fell sharply among the oldest adults.
Why it matters
The authors argued that research on cognitive aging should distinguish different childhood hardships rather than combine literacy and food availability into one measure.
Caveats
These observational data cannot establish cause and effect, and childhood hunger relied on participants’ recollections. The findings concern Chinese adults aged 45–105 and do not establish the same patterns in younger adults or other populations.
The paper
University at Buffalo, State University of New York
The Gerontologist, Jul 22, 2026, Open access
