Essential Amino Acids, Vitamins, and Minerals Moderate the Relationship Between the Right Frontal Pole and Measures of Memory.

Abstract

SCOPE\nNutrition has increasingly been recognized for its ability to help prevent and protect against disease, inspiring new programs of research that translate findings from nutritional science into innovative assessment tools, technologies, and therapies to advance the practice of modern medicine. A central aim in this effort is to discover specific dietary patterns that promote healthy brain aging and that moderate the engagement of neural systems known to facilitate cognitive performance in late life.\n\n\nMETHODS AND RESULTS\nThe present study therefore investigated estimates of nutrient intake derived from food frequency questionnaires, structural measures of brain volume via high resolution magnetic resonance imaging, and standardized neuropsychological measures of memory performance in non-demented elders (n = 111) using a moderation analysis. The results revealed that the Essential Amino Acids, Vitamins, and Minerals nutrient pattern moderates the positive relationship between the volume of the right frontal pole and measures of both delayed and auditory memory.\n\n\nCONCLUSIONS\nOur findings demonstrate that a nutrient pattern including macro- and micro-nutrients moderate the effect of brain structure on cognitive function in old age and support the efficacy of interdisciplinary methods in nutritional cognitive neuroscience for the study of healthy brain aging. This article is protected by copyright. All rights reserved.