Diet and the Aging Brain

University Hospital Muenster120 enrolled

Overview

We investigate whether a change in diet could provide positive effects on general brain functions in healthy elderly people.

The age-related degradation of cognitive functions even to the point of neurodegenerative disorders such as alzheimer's disease are a growing public-health concern with potentially devastating effects. Refering to animal data and empirical studies, a healthy diet rich in unsaturated fatty acids and low in calories should improve cognitive functions such as learning and memory. To test this hypothesis, we study general brain functions in healthy elderly subjects (50-80 years old) during a short term diet.

Study Type

INTERVENTIONAL

Allocation

RANDOMIZED

Purpose

PREVENTION

Masking

NONE

Enrollment

120

Conditions

Healthy

Interventions

dietBEHAVIORAL

Eligibility

Sex: ALLMin age: 50 YearsMax age: 80 YearsHealthy volunteers:

Medical Language ↔ Plain English

Inclusion Criteria: * healthy subjects * 50-80 years old * moderate to heavy weight * must be able to change diet at home Exclusion Criteria: * diabetes * younger than 50 years * BMI \< 23 * already participating in other studys * MMSE \> 26 * eating disorders

Locations (1)

University Hospital Muenster, Department of Neurology

Münster, North Rhine-Westphalia, Germany

Outcomes

Primary Outcomes

implicit visual-motor learning of a finger sequence of the hand.

Secondary Outcomes

implicit learning of an artificial language

several plasma levels related to cognitive functions

Data from ClinicalTrials.gov

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