Neshatdoust Sara, Saunders Caroline, Castle Sophie M, Vauzour David, Williams Claire, Butler Laurie, Lovegrove Julie A, Spencer Jeremy P E
Hugh Sinclair Unit for Human Nutrition, School of Chemistry, Food and Pharmacy, University of Reading , Reading, UK.
Department of Nutrition, Norwich Medical School, University of East Anglia , Norwich, UK.
Nutr Healthy Aging. 2016 Oct 27;4(1):81-93. doi: 10.3233/NHA-1615.
Recent clinical studies have indicated the beneficial impact of dietary flavonoid intake on human cognitive performance. Although the mechanisms that mediate such improvements are currently unclear, animal and human trial data suggest that changes in neurotrophin expression, and related signalling apparatus, may be involved. To investigate the link between changes in serum brain-derived neurotrophic factor (BDNF) and changes in human cognitive performance following flavonoid intake. The relationship between serum levels of BDNF and age, gender, BMI, waist circumference, blood pressure and cognition at baseline, and following flavonoid intake, was investigated in two distinct randomised, controlled clinical trials. Trial 1 was conducted in men and women (aged 26-70 y; consuming an average of 3 portions of fruit and vegetables per day) and delivered high-flavonoid (>15 mg/100 g) or low-flavonoid (<5 mg/100 g) fruit and vegetables and increased intake by 2 portions every 6 weeks. The control arm was habitual diet over the same time frame. Trial 2 was conducted in an older males and female cohort (aged 62-75 y) intervening with a high-flavanol cocoa drink (494 mg total flavanols) and a low-flavanol cocoa drink (23 mg total flavanols) for 12 weeks. Serum BDNF levels increased linearly to the age of 65, after which BDNF levels were found to decrease markedly. All other physiological and anthropometric measurements proved to not be significantly associated with serum BDNF levels ( > 0.05), although higher levels in males compared to females almost achieved significance ( = 0.056). At baseline, higher serum BDNF levels were associated with significantly better global cognition scores, relative to individuals with lower serum levels. In addition, following intervention for 18 weeks, high-flavonoid, but not low-flavonoid, fruit and vegetable intake induced significant improvements in cognitive performance and increases in serum BDNF levels ( = <0.001). Flavanol intervention for 12 weeks also resulted in significant increases in serum BDNF ( = <0.001), and such increases were correlated with improvements in global cognitive performance. Increases in global cognition induced by high flavonoid fruit and vegetables, and cocoa flavanols were paralleled by concurrent changes in serum BDNF levels, suggesting a role for BDNF in flavonoid-induced cognitive improvements. Furthermore, we provide further data suggesting that serum BDNF levels may represent a biomarker of cognitive function.
近期临床研究表明，饮食中摄入类黄酮对人类认知能力有有益影响。尽管目前尚不清楚介导这种改善的机制，但动物和人体试验数据表明，神经营养因子表达及相关信号传导机制的变化可能与之有关。为了研究摄入类黄酮后血清脑源性神经营养因子（BDNF）的变化与人类认知能力变化之间的联系。在两项不同的随机对照临床试验中，研究了BDNF血清水平与年龄、性别、体重指数、腰围、血压以及基线时和摄入类黄酮后的认知能力之间的关系。试验1在年龄26 - 70岁的男性和女性中进行（平均每天食用3份水果和蔬菜），提供高类黄酮（>15毫克/100克）或低类黄酮（<5毫克/100克）的水果和蔬菜，并每6周增加2份摄入量。对照组在同一时间段内保持习惯饮食。试验2在年龄62 - 75岁的老年男性和女性队列中进行，用高黄烷醇可可饮料（总黄烷醇494毫克）和低黄烷醇可可饮料（总黄烷醇23毫克）进行干预，为期12周。血清BDNF水平在65岁之前呈线性上升，之后BDNF水平显著下降。所有其他生理和人体测量指标与血清BDNF水平均无显著相关性（>0.05），尽管男性BDNF水平高于女性几乎达到显著水平（=0.056）。在基线时，相对于血清水平较低的个体，血清BDNF水平较高与总体认知得分显著更高相关。此外，在进行18周干预后，高类黄酮水果和蔬菜的摄入（而非低类黄酮水果和蔬菜）可显著改善认知能力并提高血清BDNF水平（= <0.001）。黄烷醇干预12周也导致血清BDNF显著升高（= <0.001），且这种升高与总体认知能力的改善相关。高类黄酮水果和蔬菜以及可可黄烷醇引起的总体认知能力提高与血清BDNF水平的同时变化平行，表明BDNF在类黄酮诱导的认知改善中发挥作用。此外，我们提供了进一步的数据表明血清BDNF水平可能代表认知功能的一个生物标志物。
