Abstract
Accumulating evidence suggests that diet and lifestyle can play an important role in delaying the onset or halting the progression of age-related health disorders and to improve cognitive function. A growing number of dietary intervention studies in humans and animals and in particular those using polyphenol-rich diets have been proposed to exert a multiplicity of neuroprotective actions within the brain, including a potential to protect neurons against injury induced by neurotoxins, an ability to suppress neuroinflammation and a potential to promote memory, learning, and cognitive functions. These effects appear to be underpinned by two common processes. First, they are capable of interactions with critical protein and lipid kinase signalling cascades in the brain, leading to an inhibition of apoptosis triggered by neurotoxic species and to a promotion of neuronal survival and synaptic plasticity. Second, they induce beneficial effects on the vascular system, leading to changes in cerebrovascular blood flow capable of causing enhance vascularisation and neurogenesis, two events important in the maintenance of cognitive performances. Together, these processes act to maintain brain homeostasis and play important roles in neuronal stress adaptation and thus polyphenols might have the potential to prevent the progression of neurodegenerative pathologies.
Highlights
A vast and growing research literature has been focusing on the potential of dietary polyphenols for aiding preservation of cognitive function during ageing while reducing risk for neurodegenerative disorders (Letenneur et al, 2007; Nurk et al, 2009; Gu et al, 2010; Nooyens et al, 2011; Solfrizzi et al, 2011; Loef and Walach, 2012; Vauzour, 2012)
The activation of various signalling pathways have been linked with the control of synaptic plasticity and memory (Spencer et al, 2009) which all converge to the cAMP-response element-binding protein (CREB), a transcription factor which binds to the promoter regions of many genes associated with synapse re-modelling, increases in neuronal spine density and synaptic plasticity (Impey et al, 2004; Barco et al, 2006)
Decline on cognitive abilities with age occurs in healthy individuals and spreads through adult lifespan
Summary
A vast and growing research literature has been focusing on the potential of dietary polyphenols for aiding preservation of cognitive function during ageing while reducing risk for neurodegenerative disorders (Letenneur et al, 2007; Nurk et al, 2009; Gu et al, 2010; Nooyens et al, 2011; Solfrizzi et al, 2011; Loef and Walach, 2012; Vauzour, 2012). The regular dietary intake of polyphenol-rich foods and/or beverages has been associated with 50% reduction in the risk of dementia (Commenges et al, 2000), a preservation of cognitive performance with ageing (Morris et al, 2006; Letenneur et al, 2007), a delay in the onset of Alzheimer’s disease (Dai et al, 2006; Pasinetti et al, 2015) and a reduction in the risk of developing Parkinson’s disease (Checkoway et al, 2002; Chen et al, 2015).
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