2023-05-02 11:04:14
Through an exceptionally comprehensive examination of data on nutrient intake, brain structure and mental fitness, researchers have identified factors that underlie healthy aging.
Gray matter volume in specific regions, auditory, short- and long-term memory fitness, and levels of omega-6, 7, and 9 fatty acids in the blood were linked to brain health in old age in a new study: So Study participants who did better on memory tests tended to have more gray matter in certain brain regions. Those who performed worse on cognitive tests, on the other hand, had less gray matter and lower levels of omega fatty acids in their blood.
“Our results show that we can use nutrient biomarkers, cognitive tests and MRI images of brain structure to capture much of the variation in healthy aging,” said Prof. Aron Barbey of the University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign. “It will help us better understand how nutrition contributes to health, aging and disease.”
His team had collected brain MRI images, blood levels of 52 nutrients and results from cognitive tests from 111 healthy older adults and analyzed them using a data fusion approach. This allowed the researchers to identify traits that share common patterns of variability. “Rather than looking at individual factors, we look at the relationships between all of this data at once. This allows us to identify specific traits that band together,” Barbey explained.
The study only shows connections between these factors and does not prove that dietary habits directly promote brain health. Nevertheless, it shows that nutrition is a key factor in healthy aging, the researchers write in The Journal of Nutrition.
Which: DOI 10.1016/j.tjnut.2023.03.016
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#healthy #aging #work
