As the population grows older, strategies that can promote healthy aging and offset the development of age-related neurodegenerative diseases are becoming increasingly relevant. Consuming a balanced, nutritious diet is important for maintaining health, especially as individuals age. The brain has a high demand for nutrients and nutritional imbalances dampen the structural and functional integrity of the brain critically impacting our cognitive capacities. Indeed, several lines of evidence suggest that nutritional strategies can reduce the risk of age-related neurodegenerative diseases and exhibit potential beneficial effects in delaying the onset of brain diseases and slowing down the progression of some conditions. Some studies have shown that nutritional interventions improve cognitive function in patients with AD. However, the research linking the role of nutritional interventions with age-related neurodegenerative diseases is still in the initial stage and has made little progress. It is still currently unclear if dietary ingredients can impact and modulate brain aging and neurodegeneration, especially the molecular mechanism of nutritional interventions promoting brain health are not yet clear. The development of effective nutritional interventions for promoting healthy aging is becoming an emerging and challenging area.
With this Research Topic, we wish to highlight the effects of nutritional interventions on age-related brain cognitive function, as well as to explore their potential mechanisms that ultimately improve brain health. Specifically, the alteration of macronutrients (e.g., carbohydrates, lipids) and micronutrients (e.g., vitamins and minerals), as well as other bioactive food compounds (e.g., polyphenols) at different time-points across the lifespan, improve the brain function in age-related neurodegenerative diseases. Moreover, it is worth noting that combining a healthy diet with other interventions is known to have beneficial effects (e.g., physical exercise and pharmacological intervention) and will likely result in enhanced benefits and positive outcomes. Another important nutrition-related factor that is thought to influence aging is the timing of food ingestion in relation to intrinsic circadian rhythms. It is now well recognized that both intermittent and periodic fasting as well as time-restricted feeding, even without altering nutrition quality or quantity, can be quite beneficial and help prevent and/or ameliorate several diseases. This Research Topic is designed to promote an interdisciplinary approach to understanding the promising nutritional interventions for age-related neurodegenerative diseases and to further address the functional significance of nutrition on brain health and cognitive performance in older adults.
We welcome all Original Research articles, Review, Perspectives, and Method focus on, but are not limited to, the following theme:
- Systematic exploration of the pathways, biomarkers and molecular mechanisms of how dietary nutraceuticals including macronutrients, micronutrients and other bioactive food compounds affect age-related neurodegenerative diseases.
- The molecular mechanism of dietary patterns including calorie restriction and intermittent fasting in affecting age-related neurodegenerative diseases.
- Investigating how the alteration of nutraceuticals in early life affects brain function in the elderly.
- The synergistic analysis and/or potential mechanism study of nutritional interventions with other interventions in affecting age-related neurodegenerative diseases.
As the population grows older, strategies that can promote healthy aging and offset the development of age-related neurodegenerative diseases are becoming increasingly relevant. Consuming a balanced, nutritious diet is important for maintaining health, especially as individuals age. The brain has a high demand for nutrients and nutritional imbalances dampen the structural and functional integrity of the brain critically impacting our cognitive capacities. Indeed, several lines of evidence suggest that nutritional strategies can reduce the risk of age-related neurodegenerative diseases and exhibit potential beneficial effects in delaying the onset of brain diseases and slowing down the progression of some conditions. Some studies have shown that nutritional interventions improve cognitive function in patients with AD. However, the research linking the role of nutritional interventions with age-related neurodegenerative diseases is still in the initial stage and has made little progress. It is still currently unclear if dietary ingredients can impact and modulate brain aging and neurodegeneration, especially the molecular mechanism of nutritional interventions promoting brain health are not yet clear. The development of effective nutritional interventions for promoting healthy aging is becoming an emerging and challenging area.
With this Research Topic, we wish to highlight the effects of nutritional interventions on age-related brain cognitive function, as well as to explore their potential mechanisms that ultimately improve brain health. Specifically, the alteration of macronutrients (e.g., carbohydrates, lipids) and micronutrients (e.g., vitamins and minerals), as well as other bioactive food compounds (e.g., polyphenols) at different time-points across the lifespan, improve the brain function in age-related neurodegenerative diseases. Moreover, it is worth noting that combining a healthy diet with other interventions is known to have beneficial effects (e.g., physical exercise and pharmacological intervention) and will likely result in enhanced benefits and positive outcomes. Another important nutrition-related factor that is thought to influence aging is the timing of food ingestion in relation to intrinsic circadian rhythms. It is now well recognized that both intermittent and periodic fasting as well as time-restricted feeding, even without altering nutrition quality or quantity, can be quite beneficial and help prevent and/or ameliorate several diseases. This Research Topic is designed to promote an interdisciplinary approach to understanding the promising nutritional interventions for age-related neurodegenerative diseases and to further address the functional significance of nutrition on brain health and cognitive performance in older adults.
We welcome all Original Research articles, Review, Perspectives, and Method focus on, but are not limited to, the following theme:
- Systematic exploration of the pathways, biomarkers and molecular mechanisms of how dietary nutraceuticals including macronutrients, micronutrients and other bioactive food compounds affect age-related neurodegenerative diseases.
- The molecular mechanism of dietary patterns including calorie restriction and intermittent fasting in affecting age-related neurodegenerative diseases.
- Investigating how the alteration of nutraceuticals in early life affects brain function in the elderly.
- The synergistic analysis and/or potential mechanism study of nutritional interventions with other interventions in affecting age-related neurodegenerative diseases.