Whyte Adrian R, Schafer Graham, Williams Claire M
School of Psychology and Clinical Language Sciences, University of Reading, Earley Gate, Whiteknights, Reading, RG6 6AL, UK.
Eur J Nutr. 2016 Sep;55(6):2151-62. doi: 10.1007/s00394-015-1029-4. Epub 2015 Oct 5.
Previously, anthocyanin-rich blueberry treatments have shown positive effects on cognition in both animals and human adults. However, little research has considered whether these benefits transfer to children. Here we describe an acute time-course and dose-response investigation considering whether these cognitive benefits extend to children.
Using a double-blind cross-over design, on three occasions children (n = 21; 7-10 years) consumed placebo (vehicle) or blueberry drinks containing 15 or 30 g freeze-dried wild blueberry (WBB) powder. A cognitive battery including tests of verbal memory, word recognition, response interference, response inhibition and levels of processing was performed at baseline, and 1.15, 3 and 6 h following treatment.
Significant WBB-related improvements included final immediate recall at 1.15 h, delayed word recognition sustained over each period, and accuracy on cognitively demanding incongruent trials in the interference task at 3 h. Importantly, across all measures, cognitive performance improved, consistent with a dose-response model, with the best performance following 30 g WBB and the worst following vehicle.
Findings demonstrate WBB-related cognitive improvements in 7- to 10-year-old children. These effects would seem to be particularly sensitive to the cognitive demand of task.
此前，富含花青素的蓝莓治疗已显示出对动物和成年人认知功能的积极影响。然而，很少有研究考虑这些益处是否能延伸至儿童。在此，我们描述了一项急性时程和剂量反应研究，以探讨这些认知益处是否能延伸至儿童。
采用双盲交叉设计，儿童（n = 21；7 - 10岁）在三个不同场合分别饮用安慰剂（赋形剂）或含有15克或30克冻干野生蓝莓（WBB）粉末的蓝莓饮料。在基线以及治疗后1.15小时、3小时和6小时进行了包括言语记忆、单词识别、反应干扰、反应抑制和加工水平测试的认知测试组。
与WBB相关的显著改善包括在1.15小时时的最终即时回忆、在每个时间段持续的延迟单词识别，以及在3小时时干扰任务中对认知要求较高的不一致试验的准确性。重要的是，在所有测量指标中，认知表现均有所改善，符合剂量反应模型，30克WBB后的表现最佳，安慰剂后的表现最差。
研究结果表明7至10岁儿童与WBB相关的认知能力有所改善。这些影响似乎对任务的认知要求特别敏感。
