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[Zwilling] As we go through life there, are certain things that we can do to enhance or
change our brain function. And the term we use in the Neuroscience world is called, "plasticity."
And so, some of the things that we look at in
our lab include nutrition and food, like diet, what we eat, exercise,
maybe even meditation. And we look at how those have an impact on our cognitive function.
[Talukdar] In this study we're actually looking at how nutrition,
brain structure, and cognitive measures are correlated together.
[Zwilling] In our study, we combined nutrient biomarkers and gray matter
brain volumes with cognitive function. And so we use this data fusion technique to
bring those three together into a common statistical framework.
[Talukdar] We were looking at 111 healthy older adults.
So we have looked at a broad range of nutrients, 52 nutrients in this case.
[Zwilling] A lot of research is looking at maybe a single nutrient or maybe a couple nutrients at
a time. Whereas, our study was much more expansive and broader and, probably, reflecting more, like,
what happens when you eat a wide variety of foods on a daily basis. And so we had these
different biomarkers we collected that can come from these different foods that people would eat.
[Talukdar] And trying to look at the association of nutrient profiles with
brain health as measured from gray matter volumes, as well as cognitive performance
measured from standardized tests. And what we have discovered here is that some nutrients are
correlated to higher gray matter volumes and also superior cognitive performance.
[Zwilling] Those include certain mono- and polyunsaturated fatty acids.
These fatty acids come from eating foods like nuts and seeds...
or fatty fish, like salmon...
Greek yogurt, they're kind of healthier dairy fats...
[Talukdar] Things like avocado, right? Like those are rich in monounsaturated fatty acids.
[Zwilling] It seems to be these kind of foods that people might be eating more of
in their diet have a more pronounced effect on the brain and the cognitive system than others.
[Talukdar] For people who are aging we know that our brain volumes shrink.
And what we found from this study is that, those who have better cognitive performance and dietary
profiles in some of the nutrients that Chris was talking about, polyunsaturated fatty acids
or monounsaturated fatty acids, which are good for our health, these individuals tended to have
larger gray matter volumes in these areas that provide greater executive function and memory.
[Zwilling] And that's what, I think, our research is teasing out more and more. It's that, like,
which of these types of nutrients matter? Or how do they affect the brain?
How can they, you know, affect the brain volumes that Tanveer was talking about?
[Talukdar] I think this is a powerful technique. It allows us to investigate,
um, you know, hundreds of variables and also variables that are in multi-dimensional space.
[Zwilling] At a mathematical, algorithmic level, it's somewhat similar to if you watch Netflix, you know?
You'll get a recommendation made to you. And there's a lot of overlap in terms of the methods
they would use for that system and what we use here in terms of being able to find those kinds
of common patterns. And these large data sets that are becoming very common in research.
And so this is, I think, a good example how we can... we've done this... demonstrated that it can work.
But we could also use it going forward to even incorporate even more data elements.
[Talukdar] I think that's why I'm so excited about the study. That we can pave the way
for new studies examining more nutritional profiles and different population samples.
[Zwilling] I do believe that there's a lot to be said for how diet and nutrition can affect
us and affect the brain and our quality of life. And it's something that we can
do. We can take control. We don't require a doctor to tell us to do or not do it.
So I like this aspect of this research. It's like, it's really within our control. And it can have,
I think, a real and practical impact on our health and our well-being as we age.
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