Abstract
PurposeAcute intervention with wild blueberry (WBB) has previously revealed positive cognitive and mood effects in typically developing children; however, it is unclear whether effects persist after daily supplementation. In addition, no data have been published exploring the metabolite profiles of children following berry consumption, to our knowledge. A study of this kind could provide insight into a mechanism of action for the cognitive and mood improvements observed previously in children. The aim of this pilot study was to assess cognitive performance and urinary metabolite concentrations in healthy 7–10-year-old children across a 4 week daily WBB drink intervention.MethodsThis pilot study examined the effects of daily WBB consumption for 4 weeks (766 mg total polyphenols; 253 mg anthocyanins; equivalent to 240 g fresh blueberries per day) on cognition and mood in 15 healthy 7–10-year-old children. Polyphenol metabolites were measured in 24 h urine before and after the 4 week intervention.ResultsChronic WBB-related benefits were seen on cognitively demanding trials on the modified attention network task, a task measuring executive functioning. Specifically, the WBB group maintained significantly higher accuracy on incongruent trials (96%; SE 0.03) compared with placebo participants (85%; SE 0.03; p = 0.038) after the 4 week intervention, suggesting WBB was of most benefit on the more difficult aspects of the task. No significant WBB-related effects were observed on the auditory verbal learning task or the child’s version of the positive and negative affect schedule. Urinary metabolite analyses indicated significant increases in different metabolites in WBB and placebo groups after 4 week consumption.ConclusionThe research demonstrates 24 h WBB bioavailability in a child cohort for the first time with increases in urinary hippuric acid excretion during 2 week daily WBB consumption. This study highlights the importance of conducting a larger study in children investigating the mechanism of action behind cognitive effects using bioavailability data.
Highlights
Evidence highlighting the benefits of polyphenols on human health has been expanding across the last decade [1,2,3,4,5]
The current pilot study administered a daily dose of flavonoid-rich wild blueberry to typically developing 7–10-yearold children for 4 weeks following a randomised, placebocontrolled, between-groups design, to investigate the effects of chronic consumption on mood, cognition and urinary metabolites
Improvements in accuracy were observed on the modified attention network task (MANT) following wild blueberry (WBB) intervention, on incongruent, fast and medium load trials
Summary
Evidence highlighting the benefits of polyphenols on human health has been expanding across the last decade [1,2,3,4,5]. Identifying specific metabolites that circulate in the body after blueberries have been ingested can ascertain bioavailability [19,20,21] This is important as it may reveal the metabolites that are circulating at the time of observed health or cognitive effects, highlighting a window, where polyphenols may. Exploration of the acute vascular benefits of blueberry consumption indicates that certain metabolites ( hippuric, vanillic, benzoic and ferulic acids) are present in urine and plasma after blueberry consumption and may be responsible for the acute endothelium-related vascular improvements observed in healthy volunteers [19, 32, 33] It is unknown whether this MOA may contribute to previously observed acute cognitive and mood effects. The intention was to recruit a small sample of participants to assess feasibility for future trials
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