Orange Juice Consumption and Cognitive Function

University of Reading40 enrolled

Overview

This study is investigating the effect of 8 weeks of orange juice supplementation on executive function in healthy older adults. The study is a controled, double-blind, crossover trial and involves a 8 week supplementation with a high flavonone orange juice and a carbohydrate-matched control. Volunteers consume 500ml of either the test juice or the control juice per day for an 8 week period. There is then an 8 week washout period before subjects proceed to the other arm of the study. Subjects are randomly assigned to either arm at the beginning of the study. Measures of cognitive function will be administered pre and post both test and control interventions. Blood pressure will also be measured and blood and urine samples will be collected to assess absorption of from the juice. A sub-sample of volunteers will undergo MRI imaging pre- and post intervention to acquire cerebral blow flow information.

Study Type

INTERVENTIONAL

Allocation

RANDOMIZED

Purpose

BASIC_SCIENCE

Masking

SINGLE

Enrollment

Conditions

Nerve Degeneration

Interventions

Eligibility

Sex: ALLMin age: 60 YearsMax age: 75 YearsHealthy volunteers:

Medical Language ↔ Plain English

Inclusion Criteria: * In good general health i.e. no major health condition such as diabetes * BMI \< 30 * Cholesterol \< 6 and BP \< 150/90 * Not on blood pressure medication or blood thinning medication such as aspirin - No learning difficulty such as dyslexia Exclusion Criteria: * Diabetes * Gastro-intestinal disease * High BMI * Cholesterol and BP * Smoker * On blood pressure medication or blood thinning medication such as aspirin * Dyslexic/dyspraxic * Depression or history of depression

Outcomes

Primary Outcomes

Executive function - Attention

Assessment by human cognitive test battery delivered by computer and human operator. Assessments will be carried out at baseline and at the end of each intervention arm.

Time frame: change in attention from baseline and 8 weeks

Secondary Outcomes

Plasma flavanones

By High performance liquid chromatography

Time frame: change from baseline to 8 weeks

Blood pressure

Blood pressure measurement