Combined omega-3 fatty acids, aerobic exercise and cognitive stimulation prevents decline in gray matter volume of the frontal, parietal and cingulate cortex in patients with mild cognitive impairment

Mediterranean diet, micronutrients and macronutrients, and MRI measures of cortical thickness

“…Fish (fatty fish in particular) is an important source of omega-3 fatty acid that is reported to have beneficial effects on brain structure and function [33, 34]. Indeed, fish, omega-3 fatty acids and linolenic acid (an omega-3 PUFA) were associated with larger cortical thickness in the present study.…”

“…In the Washington Heights-Inwood Community Aging Project, higher MeDi score, higher fish intake and lower meat intake were positively associated with larger mean cortical thickness, and lower red meat intake was associated with larger cortical thickness in the superior-frontal region [17]. In a clinical trial among older adults, parietal, frontal and cingulate cortex volumes increased or were maintained in persons treated with omega-3 fatty acid supplementation, exercise and cognitive stimulation, but decreased in the control arm [34]. The positive association of MeDi with larger thickness in the frontal lobe suggests that the MeDi may favorably modulate cortical thickness through vascular mechanisms; this is consistent with the known beneficial effects of the MeDi on cardiovascular health and with the reported association of frontal lobe atrophy with cerebrovascular disease [35, 36].…”

A Bidirectional Relationship between Executive Function and Health Behavior: Evidence, Implications, and Future Directions

“…However, imaging techniques allow for the investigation of the effect of physical activity on brain structure and integrity via changes in gray and white matter. Studies using such imaging techniques have observed physical activity-associated increases in hippocampal volume (Erickson et al, 2011; Niemann et al, 2014; Thomas et al, 2015), gray matter volume in the prefrontal, frontal, and lateral temporal cortices (Colcombe et al, 2006; Flöel et al, 2010; Ruscheweyh et al, 2011; Köbe et al, 2015), and in frontal and temporal white matter integrity (Voss et al, 2013a; Tian et al, 2015; Zhu et al, 2015b). While this evidence is suggestive of physical activity-induced neurogenesis, we recognize that the imaging techniques used for such in vivo human studies rely on correlations to indirectly quantify neurogenesis, and it is likely that much of the observed growth may be due to angiogenesis, synaptogenesis, changes in myelin, and other neural growth processes in addition to the birth of new neurons.…”

A Systematic Review of Intervention Studies Examining Nutritional and Herbal Therapies for Mild Cognitive Impairment and Dementia Using Neuroimaging Methods: Study Characteristics and Intervention Efficacy

“…Three studies [16–18] reported results from the same RCT; the other 18 papers contained unique studies. Ten studies assessed herbal medicines [13, 19, 21, 23, 26, 29–33], 8 focused on vitamins and supplements [15–18, 22, 25, 27, 28], and 3 were on nootropics [14, 20, 23] (i.e., cognitive enhancers).…”

“…Most ( n = 15) studies included 1 intervention and 1 control group [13–20, 22, 24, 29–33], 1 study had 3 parallel arms [28], and five studies had no control group [21, 23, 25, 26, 34]. Four studies were carried out in China [13, 31–33], 3 each in Japan [23, 26, 30] and the United Kingdom [16–18], 2 each in Italy [27, 28] and Germany [19, 22], and 1 each in the United States [14], Austria [20], Sweden [25], Greece [29], Romania [24], and Korea [21]. One study was a multisite RCT carried out in Belgium, France, Germany, Italy, the Netherlands, and Spain [15].…”