Abstract
Background:Epidemiological studies have shown that dairy product consumption is beneficial for cognitive function in elderly individuals. β-lactolin is a Gly–Thr–Trp–Tyr lacto-tetrapeptide rich in fermented dairy products that improves memory retrieval, attention, and executive function in older adults with subjective cognitive decline and prevents the pathology of Alzheimer’s disease in rodents. There has been no study on the effects of β-lactolin on neural activity in humans.Objective:We investigated the effects of β-lactolin on neural activity and cognitive function in healthy adults.Methods:In this randomized, double-blind, placebo-controlled study, 30 participants (45–64 years old) consumed β-lactolin or placebo for 6 weeks. Neural activity during auditory and language tasks was measured through 64-channel electroencephalography. Moreover, verbal fluency tests were performed at baseline and after 6 weeks.Results:The β-lactolin group had a significantly higher P300 amplitude at the Cp2 site (a part of the parietal lobe near the center of brain, p = 0.011), and C4 site (the area between the frontal and parietal lobe, p = 0.02) during the auditory tasks after 6 weeks than the placebo group. Thus, β-lactolin supplementation promoted neural activity in the parietal area, which increases concentration and attention during auditory cognitive tasks. Compared with the placebo group, the β-lactolin group also showed significant changes in the scores of verbal fluency test after 6 weeks (p = 0.033).Conclusion:Our findings provide insight into the mechanisms underlying the effects of β-lactolin on attention in healthy adults.
Highlights
Owing to the rapid increase in the elderly population worldwide, cognitive decline and dementia have become an increasing burden on patients, their fam-ilies, and national healthcare systems
We previously reported that supplementation with -lactolin-rich whey peptides for 6 weeks improved the scores of the verbal fluency test (VFT), which evaluates the executive function and memory retrieval, and the Stroop test, which evaluates inhibition of attention, in healthy middle-aged adults compared to those in the placebo group [10]
Our findings suggest that supplementation with -lactolin increased the P300 amplitude during auditory tasks and the number of recalled words in the VFT compared to the placebo group
Summary
Owing to the rapid increase in the elderly population worldwide, cognitive decline and dementia have become an increasing burden on patients, their fam-ilies, and national healthcare systems. Epidemiological studies have suggested that the consumption of dairy products prevents age-related cognitive decline and reduces the risk of dementia and cognitive decline [1,2,3,4]. Interventional studies on rodents and humans have reported that certain dairy products prevent cognitive decline. Epidemiological studies have shown that dairy product consumption is beneficial for cognitive function in elderly individuals. -lactolin is a Gly–Thr–Trp–Tyr lacto-tetrapeptide rich in fermented dairy products that improves memory retrieval, attention, and executive function in older adults with subjective cognitive decline and prevents the pathology of Alzheimer’s disease in rodents. There has been no study on the effects of -lactolin on neural activity in humans. Objective: We investigated the effects of -lactolin on neural activity and cognitive function in healthy adults. -lactolin supplementation promoted neural activity in the parietal area, which increases concentration and attention during auditory cognitive tasks. Conclusion: Our findings provide insight into the mechanisms underlying the effects of -lactolin on attention in healthy adults
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