Funded in part by Wild Blueberry Association of North America
Improved metabolic function and cognitive performance in middle-aged adults following a single dose of wild blueberry
Whyte AR, Rahman S, Bell L, Edirisinghe I, Krikorian R, Williams CM, Burton-Freeman B
European journal of nutrition · 37 citations
Review labels
Neutral facts our review recorded about how this study was done. They describe method, never whether we like the result.
How it was studied
- Design
- Randomized controlled trial (indexed by PubMed)
- Studied in
- People
- Main outcome
- Health markers and function
- Intake measured by
- Food provided by researchers
Who paid for it
- Funding
- Industry funded
- Industry group
- Wild Blueberry Association of North America
Based on 1 listed funder(s).
Publication
- Published
- 2020-08-03 · Eur J Nutr · vol. 60 · issue 3 · pp. 1521–1536
- Publisher
- Springer Science+Business Media
- Cited
- 52 citations · more than 88% of similar papers · 2.2× the field average
- References
- 48 works
- Access
- Open access (hybrid journal) · CC-BY
- Research areas
- Phytochemicals and Antioxidant Activities · Fermentation and Sensory Analysis · Sensory Analysis and Statistical Methods
- Keywords
- Placebo, Meal, Effects of sleep deprivation on cognitive performance, Cognition, Audiology, Verbal learning, Medicine, Episodic memory, Triglyceride, Psychology, Internal medicine, Psychiatry, Cholesterol
- MeSH
- humans, fruit, cross-over studies, double-blind method, cognition, middle aged, child, young adult, executive function, blueberry plants
7 authors
From GB, US
- Adrian Robert WhyteUniversity of Reading
- Sajida RahmanIllinois Institute of Technology
- Lynne BellUniversity of Reading
- Indika EdirisingheIllinois Institute of Technology
- Robert KrikorianUniversity of Cincinnati Medical Center
- Claire Michelle Williams · correspondingUniversity of Reading
Abstract
Purpose
Research has demonstrated cognitive benefits following acute polyphenol-rich berry consumption in children and young adults. Berry intake also has been associated with metabolic benefits. No study has yet examined cognitive performance in middle-aged adults. We investigated the relationships among cognitive and metabolic outcomes in middle-aged adults following wild blueberry (WBB) consumption.
Methods
Thirty-five individuals aged 40-65 years participated in a randomized, double blind, cross-over study. Participants consumed a breakfast meal and 1-cup equivalent WBB drink or matched placebo beverage on two occasions. Participants completed cognitive tasks and had blood drawn before and at regular intervals for 8 h after each meal/treatment. Changes in episodic memory and executive function (EF) were assessed alongside plasma levels of glucose, insulin, and triglyceride.
Results
Analysis of the memory-related Auditory Verbal Learning Task (AVLT) word recognition measure revealed a decrease in performance over the test day after placebo intake, whereas performance after WBB was maintained. For the AVLT word rejection measure, participants identified more foils following WBB in comparison to placebo. Benefits were also observed for EF on the Go/No-Go task with fewer errors following WBB intake on cognitively demanding invalid No-Go trials in comparison to placebo. Furthermore, in comparison to placebo, response times were faster for the Go/No-Go task, specifically at 4 h and 8 h following WBB treatment. We also observed reduced post-meal glucose and insulin, but not triglyceride, concentrations in comparison to placebo over the first 2 h following ingestion. Though the addition of Age, BMI, glucose and insulin as covariates to the analysis reduced the significant effect of beverage for AVLT word rejection, metabolic outcomes did not interact with treatment to predict cognitive performance with the exception of one isolated trend.
Conclusions
This study indicated acute cognitive benefits of WBB intake in cognitively healthy middle-aged individuals, particularly in the context of demanding tasks and cognitive fatigue. WBB improved glucose and insulin responses to a meal. Further research is required to elucidate the underlying mechanism by which WBB improves cognitive function.
Abstract via Europe PMC. Copyright remains with the authors or publisher (CC BY).
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