Institute for Neuroscience, Department of Health Sciences and Technology, ETH Zürich, 8603 Schwerzenbach, Switzerland.
Nutrients. 2023 Mar 10;15(6):1356. doi: 10.3390/nu15061356.
The last decades have shown that maintaining a healthy and balanced diet can support brain integrity and functionality, while an inadequate diet can compromise it. However, still little is known about the effects and utility of so-called healthy snacks or drinks and their immediate short-term effects on cognition and physical performance. Here, we prepared dietary modulators comprising the essential macronutrients at different ratios and a controlled balanced dietary modulator. We assessed, in healthy adult mice, the short-term effects of these modulators when consumed shortly prior to tests with different cognitive and physical demands. A high-fat dietary modulator sustained increased motivation compared to a carbohydrate-rich dietary modulator ( = 0.041) which had a diminishing effect on motivation ( = 0.018). In contrast, a high-carbohydrate modulator had an initial beneficial effect on cognitive flexibility ( = 0.031). No apparent effects of any of the dietary modulators were observed on physical exercise. There is increasing public demand for acute cognitive and motor function enhancers that can improve mental and intellectual performance in daily life, such as in the workplace, studies, or sports activities. Our findings suggest such enhancers should be tailored to the cognitive demand of the task undertaken, as different dietary modulators will have distinct effects when consumed shortly prior to the task.
过去几十年的研究表明，保持健康均衡的饮食可以支持大脑的完整性和功能，而不均衡的饮食则会损害大脑。然而，人们对于所谓的健康零食或饮料的影响和用途，以及它们对认知和身体表现的即时短期影响，仍然知之甚少。在这里，我们准备了包含不同比例必需宏量营养素的饮食调节剂和一种控制平衡的饮食调节剂。我们在健康成年小鼠中评估了这些调节剂在短时间内摄入后，在具有不同认知和身体需求的测试中对认知和身体表现的短期影响。高脂肪饮食调节剂与富含碳水化合物的饮食调节剂相比，维持了更高的动机（ = 0.041），而富含碳水化合物的饮食调节剂则对动机产生了减弱作用（ = 0.018）。相比之下，高碳水化合物调节剂对认知灵活性有初始的有益影响（ = 0.031）。任何饮食调节剂对身体运动都没有明显的影响。公众对可以提高日常生活中（如在工作场所、学习或体育活动中）的心理和智力表现的急性认知和运动功能增强剂的需求越来越大。我们的研究结果表明，这些增强剂应该根据所进行的任务的认知需求进行调整，因为在任务之前短时间内摄入不同的饮食调节剂会产生不同的效果。
