School of Psychology, University of Roehampton, London, SW155 4JD, UK.
Department of Neuroimaging, Institute of Psychology and Neuroscience, Kings College London, London, UK.
Eur J Nutr. 2024 Nov 28;64(1):34. doi: 10.1007/s00394-024-03548-y.
Healthy diets are believed to be associated with a reduced risk of experiencing common mental disorders (CMDs) and related symptomatology (such as ruminative thinking), and with healthier brain chemistry and structure, especially in the frontal regions implicated in CMDs, cognitive control, and food choice. Nevertheless, there is very limited research on the relationship between diet health/quality and brain function. In this study we assessed the associations between adherence to the Mediterranean diet and resting state functional connectivity (rs-FC) of the prefrontal cortex (PFC) with the whole brain and whether this connectivity would be associated with ruminative thinking as a transdiagnostic factor for CMDs.
Thirty-seven adults (Mean Age = 25.57, SD = 7.18) completed the Mediterranean Diet Adherence Screener (MEDAS) and were classified into high- and low-quality diet groups and completed the Ruminative Response Scale. All participants underwent resting-state functional MRI (fMRI) to determine whole-brain rs-FC of the medial prefrontal cortex (mPFC).
Participants in the high MEDAS group (vs. low MEDAS group) exhibited significantly greater rs-FC of the mPFC seed with the thalamus, caudate and putamen. Additionally, the strength of rs-FC of the mPFC seed with these regions was positively associated with the MEDAS scores across groups in both crude and adjusted models. There were no significant associations between the strength of rs-FC of the mPFC seed with the cluster of voxels with the thalamus, caudate, and putamen and ruminative thinking.
This work shows that healthy dietary patterns are associated with rs-FC in the frontal-subcortical circuitry in healthy volunteers. Considering the implications of the dysregulation of this circuity, adhering to healthy dietary patterns may offer a promising alternative/complementary method to improve CMDs, cognitive control, and food choices.
健康的饮食被认为与降低常见精神障碍（CMD）和相关症状（如反刍思维）的风险有关，并且与更健康的大脑化学和结构有关，特别是在与 CMD、认知控制和食物选择相关的额叶区域。然而，关于饮食健康/质量与大脑功能之间的关系的研究非常有限。在这项研究中，我们评估了地中海饮食依从性与前额叶皮层（PFC）静息状态功能连接（rs-FC）与全脑之间的关系，以及这种连接是否与反刍思维有关，反刍思维是 CMD 的一种跨诊断因素。
37 名成年人（平均年龄=25.57，标准差=7.18）完成了地中海饮食依从性筛查器（MEDAS），并分为高和低质量饮食组，并完成了反刍反应量表。所有参与者都接受了静息状态功能磁共振成像（fMRI），以确定内侧前额叶皮质（mPFC）的全脑 rs-FC。
与低 MEDAS 组相比，高 MEDAS 组的 mPFC 种子与丘脑、尾状核和壳核之间的 rs-FC 显著增加。此外，在未经调整和调整后的模型中，mPFC 种子与这些区域的 rs-FC 强度与组内的 MEDAS 评分呈正相关。mPFC 种子与丘脑、尾状核和壳核的聚类体素之间的 rs-FC 强度与反刍思维之间没有显著关联。
这项工作表明，健康的饮食模式与健康志愿者的额皮质下回路的 rs-FC 有关。考虑到这种回路失调的影响，坚持健康的饮食模式可能是一种有前途的替代/补充方法，可以改善 CMD、认知控制和食物选择。
