Cognition and Behaviour, Land Division (Edinburgh), Defence Science & Technology, Department of Defence, Edinburgh, South Australia 5111, Australia.
Food and Nutrition, Land Division (Scottsdale), Defence Science & Technology, Department of Defence, Scottsdale, Tasmania 7260, Australia.
Nutrients. 2020 Feb 20;12(2):545. doi: 10.3390/nu12020545.
Intake of dietary supplements has increased, despite evidence that some of these have adverse side effects and uncertainty about their effectiveness. This systematic review examined the evidence for the cognitive benefits of a wide range of dietary supplements in healthy young adult samples; the aim was to identify if any might be useful for optimising cognitive performance during deployment in military personnel. Searches were conducted in 9 databases and 13 grey literature repositories for relevant studies published between January 2000 and June 2017. Eligible studies recruited healthy young adults (18-35 years), administered a legal dietary supplement, included a comparison control group, and assessed cognitive outcome(s). Thirty-seven of 394 identified studies met inclusion criteria and were included for synthesis. Most research was deemed of low quality (72.97%; SIGN50 guidelines), highlighting the need for sound empirical research in this area. Nonetheless, we suggest that tyrosine or caffeine could be used in healthy young adults in a military context to enhance cognitive performance when personnel are sleep-deprived. Caffeine also has the potential benefit of improving vigilance and attention during sustained operations offering little opportunity for sleep. Inconsistent findings and methodological limitations preclude firm recommendations about the use of other specific dietary supplements.
尽管有证据表明某些膳食补充剂有不良反应且其有效性不确定，但人们对其的摄入仍在增加。本系统评价研究了广泛的膳食补充剂对健康年轻成年人认知功能的益处的证据；目的是确定在军事人员部署期间是否有任何膳食补充剂可能有助于优化认知表现。研究人员在 9 个数据库和 13 个灰色文献存储库中搜索了 2000 年 1 月至 2017 年 6 月期间发表的相关研究。合格的研究招募了健康的年轻成年人（18-35 岁），给予合法的膳食补充剂，包括对照组，并评估认知结果。在确定的 394 项研究中，有 37 项符合纳入标准并被纳入综合分析。大多数研究被认为质量较低（72.97%；SIGN50 指南），这突出表明该领域需要进行可靠的实证研究。尽管如此，我们认为在军事环境中，酪氨酸或咖啡因可用于健康的年轻成年人，以在人员睡眠不足时增强认知表现。咖啡因还有可能在持续作战期间提高警觉性和注意力，从而提供很少的睡眠机会。不一致的发现和方法学限制排除了关于使用其他特定膳食补充剂的明确建议。
