TY - JOUR
T1 - Wild blueberry (poly)phenols can improve vascular function and cognitive performance in healthy older individuals
T2 - A Double-Blind Randomized Controlled Trial
AU - Wood, Eleanor
AU - Hein, Sabine
AU - Mesnage, Robin
AU - Fernandes, Filipe
AU - Abhayaratne, Nimaya
AU - Xu, Yifan
AU - Zhang, Zicheng
AU - Bell, Lynne
AU - Williams, Claire
AU - Rodriguez-Mateos, Ana
N1 - Funding Information:
This work was funded by an unrestricted grant to the ARM and CW from the Wild Blueberry Association of North America . YX and ZZ were funded by King’s-CSC PhD studentships. The funders of this study had no input on the design, implementation, analysis or interpretation of the data. The authors received, by way of a gift, the experimental test products from the Wild Blueberry Association of North America.
Publisher Copyright:
© 2023 American Society for Nutrition
PY - 2023/6
Y1 - 2023/6
N2 - Background: Evidence suggests that the intake of blueberry (poly)phenols is associated with improvements in vascular function and cognitive performance. Whether these cognitive effects are linked to increases in cerebral and vascular blood flow or changes in the gut microbiota is currently unknown. Methods: A double-blind, parallel randomized controlled trial was conducted in 61 healthy older individuals aged 65–80 y. Participants received either 26 g of freeze-dried wild blueberry (WBB) powder (302 mg anthocyanins) or a matched placebo (0 mg anthocyanins). Endothelial function measured by flow-mediated dilation (FMD), cognitive function, arterial stiffness, blood pressure (BP), cerebral blood flow (CBF), gut microbiome, and blood parameters were measured at baseline and 12 wk following daily consumption. Plasma and urinary (poly)phenol metabolites were analyzed using microelution solid-phase extraction coupled with liquid chromatography–mass spectrometry. Results: A significant increase in FMD and reduction in 24 h ambulatory systolic BP were found in the WBB group compared with the placebo group (0.86%; 95% CI: 0.56, 1.17, P < 0.001; −3.59 mmHg; 95% CI: −6.95, −0.23, P = 0.037; respectively). Enhanced immediate recall on the auditory verbal learning task, alongside better accuracy on a task-switch task was also found following WBB treatment compared with placebo (P < 0.05). Total 24 h urinary (poly)phenol excretion increased significantly in the WBB group compared with placebo. No changes in the CBF or gut microbiota composition were found. Conclusions: Daily intake of WBB powder, equivalent to 178 g fresh weight, improves vascular and cognitive function and decreases 24 h ambulatory systolic BP in healthy older individuals. This suggests that WBB (poly)phenols may reduce future CVD risk in an older population and may improve episodic memory processes and executive functioning in older adults at risk for cognitive decline. Clinical Trial Registration number in clinicaltrials.gov: NCT04084457.
AB - Background: Evidence suggests that the intake of blueberry (poly)phenols is associated with improvements in vascular function and cognitive performance. Whether these cognitive effects are linked to increases in cerebral and vascular blood flow or changes in the gut microbiota is currently unknown. Methods: A double-blind, parallel randomized controlled trial was conducted in 61 healthy older individuals aged 65–80 y. Participants received either 26 g of freeze-dried wild blueberry (WBB) powder (302 mg anthocyanins) or a matched placebo (0 mg anthocyanins). Endothelial function measured by flow-mediated dilation (FMD), cognitive function, arterial stiffness, blood pressure (BP), cerebral blood flow (CBF), gut microbiome, and blood parameters were measured at baseline and 12 wk following daily consumption. Plasma and urinary (poly)phenol metabolites were analyzed using microelution solid-phase extraction coupled with liquid chromatography–mass spectrometry. Results: A significant increase in FMD and reduction in 24 h ambulatory systolic BP were found in the WBB group compared with the placebo group (0.86%; 95% CI: 0.56, 1.17, P < 0.001; −3.59 mmHg; 95% CI: −6.95, −0.23, P = 0.037; respectively). Enhanced immediate recall on the auditory verbal learning task, alongside better accuracy on a task-switch task was also found following WBB treatment compared with placebo (P < 0.05). Total 24 h urinary (poly)phenol excretion increased significantly in the WBB group compared with placebo. No changes in the CBF or gut microbiota composition were found. Conclusions: Daily intake of WBB powder, equivalent to 178 g fresh weight, improves vascular and cognitive function and decreases 24 h ambulatory systolic BP in healthy older individuals. This suggests that WBB (poly)phenols may reduce future CVD risk in an older population and may improve episodic memory processes and executive functioning in older adults at risk for cognitive decline. Clinical Trial Registration number in clinicaltrials.gov: NCT04084457.
UR - http://www.scopus.com/inward/record.url?scp=85153076581&partnerID=8YFLogxK
U2 - 10.1016/j.ajcnut.2023.03.017
DO - 10.1016/j.ajcnut.2023.03.017
M3 - Article
C2 - 36972800
SN - 0002-9165
VL - 117
SP - 1306
EP - 1319
JO - The American journal of clinical nutrition
JF - The American journal of clinical nutrition
IS - 6
ER -