Diet and Inflammation in Cognitive Ageing and Alzheimer’s Disease

There is no author summary for this article yet. Authors can add summaries to their articles on ScienceOpen to make them more accessible to a non-specialist audience.

Abstract

Purpose of Review

Nutrition is known to modulate the immune system and may alter neuroinflammatory processes implicated in the pathogenesis of Alzheimer’s disease (AD) and progression of neurodegeneration. Here, we review the evidence for healthy dietary patterns and age-related cognition and discuss potential neuroinflammatory actions of diet on cognitive function.

Recent Findings

Anti-inflammatory dietary patterns such as the Mediterranean diet (MD) and dietary approaches to stop hypertension (DASH) may be neuroprotective. Several dietary components consumed in the MD and DASH (omega-3 fatty acids, antioxidants and polyphenols) can inhibit neuroinflammation associated with AD. Anti-inflammatory diets may also attenuate neuroinflammation via indirect immune pathways from the gut microbiome and systemic circulation.

Summary

Diet may influence cognitive ageing via several inflammatory pathways. However, data from human studies are lacking and the exact mechanisms linking diet to cognitive function remain elusive. Further dietary intervention studies are required to investigate diet-associated neurological change from the earliest through to latest stages of cognitive decline. Furthermore, incorporation of neuroimaging measures in intervention studies would advance current understanding of the mechanistic effects of dietary modification on neuroinflammation in the ageing brain.

Related collections

Most cited references 59

Record: found
Abstract: found
Article: not found

Inflammation and Alzheimer's disease.

H Akiyama, S. Barger, S Barnum … (2000)

Inflammation clearly occurs in pathologically vulnerable regions of the Alzheimer's disease (AD) brain, and it does so with the full complexity of local peripheral inflammatory responses. In the periphery, degenerating tissue and the deposition of highly insoluble abnormal materials are classical stimulants of inflammation. Likewise, in the AD brain damaged neurons and neurites and highly insoluble amyloid beta peptide deposits and neurofibrillary tangles provide obvious stimuli for inflammation. Because these stimuli are discrete, microlocalized, and present from early preclinical to terminal stages of AD, local upregulation of complement, cytokines, acute phase reactants, and other inflammatory mediators is also discrete, microlocalized, and chronic. Cumulated over many years, direct and bystander damage from AD inflammatory mechanisms is likely to significantly exacerbate the very pathogenic processes that gave rise to it. Thus, animal models and clinical studies, although still in their infancy, strongly suggest that AD inflammation significantly contributes to AD pathogenesis. By better understanding AD inflammatory and immunoregulatory processes, it should be possible to develop anti-inflammatory approaches that may not cure AD but will likely help slow the progression or delay the onset of this devastating disorder.

0 comments Cited 629 times – based on 0 reviews      Review now

Bookmark

Record: found
Abstract: found
Article: not found

Polyunsaturated fatty acids and their metabolites in brain function and disease.

Richard Bazinet, Sophie Layé (2014)

The brain is highly enriched with fatty acids. These include the polyunsaturated fatty acids (PUFAs) arachidonic acid and docosahexaenoic acid, which are largely esterified to the phospholipid cell membrane. Once PUFAs are released from the membrane, they can participate in signal transduction, either directly or after enzymatic conversion to a variety of bioactive derivatives ('mediators'). PUFAs and their mediators regulate several processes within the brain, such as neurotransmission, cell survival and neuroinflammation, and thereby mood and cognition. PUFA levels and the signalling pathways that they regulate are altered in various neurological disorders, including Alzheimer's disease and major depression. Diet and drugs targeting PUFAs may lead to novel therapeutic approaches for the prevention and treatment of brain disorders.

0 comments Cited 433 times – based on 0 reviews      Review now

Bookmark

Record: found
Abstract: found
Article: found

Is Open Access

Low-grade inflammation, diet composition and health: current research evidence and its translation

Anne Minihane, Sophie Vinoy, Wendy Russell … (2015)

The importance of chronic low-grade inflammation in the pathology of numerous age-related chronic conditions is now clear. An unresolved inflammatory response is likely to be involved from the early stages of disease development. The present position paper is the most recent in a series produced by the International Life Sciences Institute's European Branch (ILSI Europe). It is co-authored by the speakers from a 2013 workshop led by the Obesity and Diabetes Task Force entitled ‘Low-grade inflammation, a high-grade challenge: biomarkers and modulation by dietary strategies’. The latest research in the areas of acute and chronic inflammation and cardiometabolic, gut and cognitive health is presented along with the cellular and molecular mechanisms underlying inflammation–health/disease associations. The evidence relating diet composition and early-life nutrition to inflammatory status is reviewed. Human epidemiological and intervention data are thus far heavily reliant on the measurement of inflammatory markers in the circulation, and in particular cytokines in the fasting state, which are recognised as an insensitive and highly variable index of tissue inflammation. Potential novel kinetic and integrated approaches to capture inflammatory status in humans are discussed. Such approaches are likely to provide a more discriminating means of quantifying inflammation–health/disease associations, and the ability of diet to positively modulate inflammation and provide the much needed evidence to develop research portfolios that will inform new product development and associated health claims.

0 comments Cited 286 times – based on 0 reviews      Review now

Bookmark

All references

Author and article information

Contributors

Claire T. McEvoy: +44 (0) 90976078 , c.mcevoy@qub.ac.uk

Journal

Journal ID (nlm-ta): Curr Nutr Rep

Journal ID (iso-abbrev): Curr Nutr Rep

Title: Current Nutrition Reports

Publisher: Springer US (New York )

ISSN (Electronic): 2161-3311

Publication date (Electronic): 4 April 2019

Publication date PMC-release: 4 April 2019

Publication date (Print): 2019

Volume: 8

Issue: 2

Pages: 53-65

Affiliations

[1 ]ISNI 0000 0001 0462 7212, GRID grid.1006.7, Institute of Health and Society and Newcastle University Institute of Ageing, , Newcastle University, ; Biomedical Research Building, Campus of Ageing and Vitality, Newcastle upon Tyne, NE4 5PL UK

[2 ]ISNI 0000 0004 0374 7521, GRID grid.4777.3, Centre for Public Health, , Queen’s University Belfast, ; Grosvenor Road, Belfast, Northern Ireland BT12 6BJ UK

Article

Publisher ID: 271

DOI: 10.1007/s13668-019-0271-4

PMC ID: 6486891

PubMed ID: 30949921

SO-VID: 20537db3-60a0-45fb-ae1b-67810826bcf4

License:

Open Access This article is distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/), which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided you give appropriate credit to the original author(s) and the source, provide a link to the Creative Commons license, and indicate if changes were made.

History

Funding

Funded by: Queen's University of Belfast

Custom metadata

ScienceOpen disciplines: Nutrition & Dietetics

Keywords: inflammation,mechanisms,pathways,diet,nutrients,dietary patterns,mediterranean diet (md),dietary approaches to stop hypertension (dash),pro-inflammatory diets,cognition,cognitive function,cognitive ageing,alzheimer’s disease

Data availability:

ScienceOpen disciplines: Nutrition & Dietetics

Keywords: inflammation, mechanisms, pathways, diet, nutrients, dietary patterns, mediterranean diet (md), dietary approaches to stop hypertension (dash), pro-inflammatory diets, cognition, cognitive function, cognitive ageing, alzheimer’s disease

Diet and Inflammation in Cognitive Ageing and Alzheimer’s Disease

Read this article at

Abstract

Purpose of Review

Recent Findings

Summary

Related collections

Karger: Nutrition and Dietetics

Most cited references 59

Inflammation and Alzheimer's disease.

Polyunsaturated fatty acids and their metabolites in brain function and disease.

Low-grade inflammation, diet composition and health: current research evidence and its translation

Author and article information

Contributors

Journal

Affiliations

Article

History

Funding

Categories

Custom metadata

Comments

Comment on this article

Similar content 248

Cited by 115

Most referenced authors 2,292