Scientists have been studying the brain for years with the goal of aiding in healthier aging. While much is known about the risk factors that accelerate brain aging, less is known about identifying ways to slow cognitive decline.
There’s evidence that nutrition matters, and new research from the Center for Brain, Biology and Behavior at the University of Nebraska-Lincoln and the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign further suggests that certain nutrients may play a pivotal role in healthy aging of the brain. The findings were published in Nature Publishing Group Aging.
A team of scientists led by Alon Barbey, director of the Center for Brain, Biology and Behavior, along with University of Nebraska doctoral student Jishen Wu and University of Illinois and University of California, Irvine research scientist Christopher Zwilling, conducted a multimodal study combining cutting-edge innovations in neuroscience and nutrition science to identify the specific nutritional profiles of participants who exhibited superior cognitive performance.
The cross-sectional study involved 100 cognitively healthy participants aged 65-75 years. Participants completed a questionnaire including demographic information, body composition and physical fitness measurements. Plasma was collected after fasting to analyze nutritional biomarkers. Participants also underwent cognitive assessments and MRI scans. Analysis of this extensive set of measurements revealed that participants had two types of brain aging: accelerated and slower than expected. Participants with slower brain aging had a unique nutritional profile.
Blood biomarkers of beneficial nutrients were a combination of fatty acids (vaccenic, gondoic, alpha-linolenic, erucosapentaenoic, eicosadienoic, and lignoceric acids), antioxidants, carotenoids such as cis-lutein, trans-lutein, and zeaxanthin, two forms of vitamin E, and choline. This profile correlated with nutrients found in the Mediterranean diet, which previous studies have linked to healthy brain aging.
“We investigated specific nutritional biomarkers, such as fatty acid profiles, that are known in nutrition to have potential health benefits, and this is consistent with extensive research in this field demonstrating the positive health effects of the Mediterranean diet, which emphasizes foods rich in these beneficial nutrients,” said Barbey, the Mildred Frances Thompson Professor of Psychology. “In this study, we identified specific nutritional biomarker patterns that have promising and favorable associations with indicators of cognitive performance and brain health.”
Barbey noted that previous research on nutrition and brain aging has relied primarily on food frequency questionnaires that relied on subjects’ own memory. This study is one of the first and largest to combine brain imaging, blood biomarkers and validated cognitive assessments.
“What’s unique about our study is the comprehensive approach we took, integrating data on nutrition, cognition and brain imaging,” said Barbey. “This allows us to build a more robust understanding of the relationships between these factors. We went beyond simply measuring cognitive ability with traditional neuropsychological tests. Instead, we simultaneously looked at brain structure, function and metabolism, and demonstrated a direct link between these brain characteristics and cognitive ability. Furthermore, the patterns we observed in nutritional biomarkers suggest that these brain characteristics are directly related to diet and nutrition.”
The researchers plan to continue investigating how this nutritional profile relates to healthy brain aging, and Barbey said that in the future, the findings could help develop treatments and interventions to promote brain health.
“An important next step will be to conduct randomized controlled trials in which we isolate the specific nutrients with favorable associations with cognitive function and brain health and administer them in the form of dietary supplements,” said Barbey. “This will allow us to clearly evaluate whether increasing levels of these specific nutrient profiles credibly improves cognitive test performance and measures of brain structure, function and metabolism.”
Barbey is also co-editor of the Journal of Nutrition special collection, “Nutrition and the Brain – Exploring the Path to Optimal Brain Health Through Nutrition,” which is currently calling for submissions for the collection, with articles set to begin publishing next year.
“There is tremendous scientific and medical interest in understanding the critical impact that nutrition has on brain health,” said Barbey. “In recognition of this, the National Institutes of Health’s Office of Nutrition Research recently launched a 10-year strategic plan to significantly accelerate nutrition research. Our research is directly aligned with this important effort and aims to provide valuable insights into the effects of dietary patterns on brain health and cognitive function.”
