Whelan Jay
Department of Nutrition, University of Tennessee, Knoxville, TN 37996-1920, USA.
J Nutr. 2008 Dec;138(12):2521-2. doi: 10.3945/jn.108.095943.
Over the last decade, the role of dietary PUFA in growth, development, and cognitive function in the infant has been a topic at numerous national and international meetings. Only recently has the role of PUFA been more seriously examined as they relate to the aging brain. In fact, a search of the literature reveals very few randomized control trials exploring this research area. However, the literature reveals growing mechanistic evidence that cognitive function of the aging brain can be preserved, or loss of function can be diminished with docosahexaenoic acid, a long-chain (n-3) PUFA. Furthermore, no symposia have taken a serious look at the impact of (n-6) PUFA on the brain, in particular arachidonic acid (AA), the most highly concentrated (n-6) PUFA in the brain. This symposium explores the role of AA metabolism in the brain as it relates to neurological mood disorders. To that end, this symposium was designed to highlight the potential effects of dietary PUFA on the adult brain, an important issue given the growing elderly population in this country and the growing problems with neurological disorders (dementia, Alzheimer disease, Parkinson disease, bipolar disorders, etc.).
在过去十年中，膳食多不饱和脂肪酸（PUFA）在婴儿生长、发育及认知功能方面的作用一直是众多国内和国际会议的议题。直到最近，PUFA与衰老大脑相关的作用才得到更深入的研究。事实上，查阅文献会发现很少有随机对照试验探索这一研究领域。然而，文献显示越来越多的机制证据表明，二十二碳六烯酸（一种长链（n-3）PUFA）可以保护衰老大脑的认知功能，或减少功能丧失。此外，尚无研讨会认真探讨（n-6）PUFA对大脑的影响，尤其是花生四烯酸（AA），它是大脑中浓度最高的（n-6）PUFA。本次研讨会探讨了AA代谢在大脑中与神经精神障碍相关的作用。为此，本次研讨会旨在突出膳食PUFA对成人大脑的潜在影响，鉴于该国老年人口不断增加以及神经疾病（痴呆、阿尔茨海默病、帕金森病、双相情感障碍等）问题日益增多，这是一个重要议题。
