Nutrition and the ageing brain: Moving towards clinical applications

With no protocol coming out of this symposium, “Nutrition for the Ageing Brain: Moving Towards Clinical Applications” held in Madrid in August 2018, it was a total waste of time. All talk and no action.  Although 'higher' was mentioned a few times.

Nutrition and the ageing brain: Moving towards clinical applications

Author links open overlay panelEmmaFlanagan^a1DanielLamport^b1LorraineBrennan^cPhilipBurnet^dVittorioCalabrese^eStephen C.Cunnane^fghMartijn C.de WildeⁱLouiseDye^jkJonathan A.Farrimond^lNancy EmersonLombardo^mTobiasHartmannⁿThomasHartung^opMarkoKalliomäki^qGunther G.Kuhnle^rGiorgioLa Fata^sAleixSala-Vila^tuCéciliaSamieri^vA. DavidSmith^w…DavidVauzour^a

https://doi.org/10.1016/j.arr.2020.101079Get rights and content

Under a Creative Commons license

open access

Highlights

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Diet is a promising approach for the prevention of age-related neurodegeneration.

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Focus has shifted from individual nutrients to whole diets for improving brain health.

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Shift in microbiome diversity may affect brain ageing.

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Dietary manipulation of the gut microbiota may improve brain functions in ageing.

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Brain imaging, modelling and new biomarkers are improving diet and ageing research.

Abstract

The global increases in life expectancy and population have resulted in a growing ageing population and with it a growing number of people living with age-related neurodegenerative conditions and dementia, shifting focus towards methods of prevention, with lifestyle approaches such as nutrition representing a promising avenue for further development.

This overview summarises the main themes discussed during the 3^rd Symposium on “Nutrition for the Ageing Brain: Moving Towards Clinical Applications” held in Madrid in August 2018, enlarged with the current state of knowledge on how nutrition influences healthy ageing and gives recommendations regarding how the critical field of nutrition and neurodegeneration research should move forward into the future.

Specific nutrients are discussed as well as the impact of multi-nutrient and whole diet approaches, showing particular promise to combatting the growing burden of age-related cognitive decline. The emergence of new avenues for exploring the role of diet in healthy ageing, such as the impact of the gut microbiome and development of new techniques (imaging measures of brain metabolism, metabolomics, biomarkers) are enabling researchers to approach finding answers to these questions. But the translation of these findings into clinical and public health contexts remains an obstacle due to significant shortcomings in nutrition research or pressure on the scientific community to communicate recommendations to the general public in a convincing and accessible way. Some promising programs exist but further investigation to improve our understanding of the mechanisms by which nutrition can improve brain health across the human lifespan is still required.

Keywords

Brain

Healthy ageing

Preventative diet

Microbiota

Neuroprotection

Cognitive ageing

1. Introduction

The global increases in life expectancy and population have resulted in a growing ageing population and with it a growing number of people living with age-related neurodegenerative conditions and dementia. Age-related neurodegenerative conditions have an enormous societal and emotional cost. The prevalence of dementia worldwide is suspected to be as many as 50 million cases², with prevalence estimated to be between 2% and 4% by 65 years, increasing to 15% at 80 years of age³. In Europe, it is estimated that approximately 10 million people are affected, with costs of dementia projected to exceed €250bn by 2030 (Cimler et al., 2019). In the absence of effective pharmacological treatment to curtail or reverse the mechanisms underlying age-related cognitive decline, it is necessary to shift focus towards methods of prevention, with lifestyle approaches representing a promising avenue for further development.

The link between nutrition and cognitive decline has been the focus of ILSI Europe’s events on ‘Nutrition for the Ageing Brain’ since the first successful meeting took place in 2014. ILSI Europe’s events on ‘Nutrition for the Ageing Brain’ provide a forum for discussion of complex issues relating to nutrition and brain ageing science, bringing together experts from areas of food science, nutrition, developmental ageing, and cognitive science. These events have resulted in high quality and impact peer-reviewed publications (Miquel et al., 2018; Vauzour et al., 2017). Previous events have focused on the mechanisms of ageing and their interactions with nutrients (Miquel et al., 2018; Vauzour et al., 2017). The focus of the 2018 symposium held in Madrid has shifted towards clinical and applicable aspects of what we know so far regarding the impact of nutrition on maintaining brain health with age. This overview summarises the main themes discussed during this most recent ILSI Europe event, enlarged with the current state of knowledge on how nutrition influences healthy ageing. Topics discussed include biomarkers of nutrition, the role of the gut microbiome, new avenues for research, and recommendations regarding how the critical field of nutrition and neurodegeneration research should move forward into the future.