Acute Effects of Glucose and Fructose Administration on the Neural Correlates of Cognitive Functioning in Healthy Subjects: A Pilot Study

Abstract

The present randomized double-blinded cross-over study aims to extensively study the neural correlates underpinning cognitive functions in healthy subjects after acute glucose and fructose administration, using an integrative multimodal neuroimaging approach. Five minutes after glucose, fructose, or placebo administration through a nasogastric tube, 12 participants underwent 3 complementary neuroimaging techniques: 2 task-based functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) sequences to assess working memory (N-back) and response inhibition (Go/No-Go) and one resting state fMRI sequence to address the cognition-related fronto-parietal network (FPN) and salience network (SN). During working memory processing, glucose intake decreased activation in the anterior cingulate cortex (ACC) relative to placebo, while fructose decreased activation in the ACC and sensory cortex relative to placebo and glucose. During response inhibition, glucose and fructose decreased activation in the ACC, insula and visual cortex relative to placebo. Resting state fMRI indicated increased global connectivity strength of the FPN and the SN during glucose and fructose intake. The results demonstrate that glucose and fructose lead to partially different partially overlapping changes in regional brain activities that underpin cognitive performance in different tasks.

Chronic Stress Combined with a Fructose Diet Reduces Hypothalamic Insulin Signaling and Antioxidative Defense in Female Rats

“…In addition, Zanchi el al. [44] observed increased functional connectivity in networks related to cognitive functions after acute fructose intake.…”

Fuel for Thought? A Systematic Review of Neuroimaging Studies into Glucose Enhancement of Cognitive Performance

“…The studies were conducted in several countries including UK (n = 3), Canada (n = 2), USA (n = 2), Australia (n = 1), Spain (n = 1), Switzerland (n = 1) and Korea (n = 1). Six studies were conducted with healthy adult participants (An, Jung, Kim, Lee, & Kim, 2015;Brown & Riby, 2013;Parent et al, 2011;Riby et al, 2008;Serra-Grabulosa, Adan, Falcon, & Bargallo, 2010;Zanchi et al, 2018). Three studies were conducted with healthy elderly samples (Gagnon et al, 2012;Knott, Messier, Mahoney, & Gagnon, 2001;Scholey et al, 2015).…”

“…Two studies reported spectral analysis of resting EEG (An et al, 2015;Knott et al, 2001). Four studies were conducted using task related functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI: Parent et al, 2011;Serra-Grabulosa et al, 2010;Stone et al, 2005;Zanchi et al, 2018), of which two also reported measuring fMRI connectivity (Parent et al, 2011;Zanchi et al, 2018). One study was conducted using functional near infrared spectroscopy (fNIRS: Gagnon et al, 2012).…”

“…In one repeated-measures study, testing pre-and post-ingestion was conducted on the same day (Serra-Grabulosa et al, 2010), in all other studies with repeated-measures, testing of the active and placebo drink occurred on separate days. In seven studies participants were asked to attend the lab after at least eight hours of fasting (usually overnight: An et al, 2015;An et al, 2015;Gagnon et al, 2012;Knott et al, 2001;Parent et al, 2011;Serra-Grabulosa et al, 2010;Scholey et al, 2015;Stone et al, 2005;Zanchi et al, 2018) and in three studies participants were instructed to fast for two hours prior to the testing sessions (Brown & Riby, 2013;Riby et al, 2008;Smith et al, 2009). In ten studies, glucose was administered orally as a drink, in one study the drink was administered via a nasogastric tube (Zanchi et al, 2018).…”

“…In seven studies participants were asked to attend the lab after at least eight hours of fasting (usually overnight: An et al, 2015;An et al, 2015;Gagnon et al, 2012;Knott et al, 2001;Parent et al, 2011;Serra-Grabulosa et al, 2010;Scholey et al, 2015;Stone et al, 2005;Zanchi et al, 2018) and in three studies participants were instructed to fast for two hours prior to the testing sessions (Brown & Riby, 2013;Riby et al, 2008;Smith et al, 2009). In ten studies, glucose was administered orally as a drink, in one study the drink was administered via a nasogastric tube (Zanchi et al, 2018). The amount of glucose in the active drink was 25 g in four studies (Brown & Riby, 2013;Riby et al, 2008;Scholey et al, 2015), 50 g in four studies (Gagnon et al, 2012;Knott et al, 2001;Parent et al, 2011;Stone et al, 2005), 75 g in two studies (Serra-Grabulosa et al, 2010;Zanchi et al, 2018) and 17 g in one study (An et al, 2015).…”