ORIGINAL RESEARCH article
Front. Nutr.
Sec. Nutrition and Microbes
Volume 12 - 2025 | doi: 10.3389/fnut.2025.1585111
Effect of a Specific Food Intervention with Tamogitake Mushroom, Moringa Leaves, or Rice Bran on Intestinal Microbiota and Cognitive Function in Elderly Japanese
Provisionally accepted
- Symbiosis Solutions Inc., Tokyo, Japan
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Introduction: The large number of elderly patients with dementia and mild cognitive impairment with cognitive decline in Japan has become a social problem. In this study, a food intervention study was conducted to test whether a food intervention approach targeting intestinal microbiota can improve cognitive function in elderly Japanese individuals. Methods: Japanese participants (144 males and 87 females) aged 60-79 years were assigned to one of the test food groups: Tamogitake mushroom (Pleurotus cornucopiae var. citrinopileatus), Moringa oleifera Lam. leaves, and rice bran for each sex, respectively. After four weeks of preobservation, each group consumed the test foods for eight weeks; cognitive function and intestinal microbiota tests were performed after each four-week period. The intestinal microbiota of each participant was determined by 16S rRNA gene amplicon sequencing. Results: The participants were divided into responders (improved cognitive function) and nonresponders (no improvement) within each sex group. Responders exhibited variations in intestinal bacteria belonging to specific taxa, including Agathobaculum, Anaerobutyricum, Blautia, Faecalibacterium, Parabacteroides, and Phascolarctobacterium, compared to non-responders, indicating that cognitive function may be improved by changes in specific intestinal bacteria with food intake. However, improvements in cognitive function would require consuming foods suitable for the composition of the intestinal microbiota. Conclusions: Food intervention approaches targeting the intestinal microbiota could lead to innovative solutions for improving cognitive function in the elderly.
Keywords: intestinal microbiota, Cognitive Function, Japan, Mild Cognitive Impairment, Dementia, Tamogitake, Moringa, Rice bran
Received: 28 Feb 2025; Accepted: 10 Jun 2025.
Copyright: © 2025 Hatayama, Kono, Okuma and Masuyama. This is an open-access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License (CC BY). The use, distribution or reproduction in other forums is permitted, provided the original author(s) or licensor are credited and that the original publication in this journal is cited, in accordance with accepted academic practice. No use, distribution or reproduction is permitted which does not comply with these terms.
* Correspondence: Kouta Hatayama, Symbiosis Solutions Inc., Tokyo, Japan
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