Greater resting state functional connectivity of the medial prefrontal cortex with the thalamus, caudate, and putamen in individuals who adhere to the Mediterranean style diets.
Paul Faulkner, Paul Allen, Adele Costabile, Marieke H Schoemaker, Florencia Imakulata, Piril Hepsomali
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引用次数: 0
Abstract
Purpose: Healthy diets are believed to be associated with a reduced risk of experiencing common mental disorders (CMDs) and related symptomatology (such as ruminative thinking), and with healthier brain chemistry and structure, especially in the frontal regions implicated in CMDs, cognitive control, and food choice. Nevertheless, there is very limited research on the relationship between diet health/quality and brain function. In this study we assessed the associations between adherence to the Mediterranean diet and resting state functional connectivity (rs-FC) of the prefrontal cortex (PFC) with the whole brain and whether this connectivity would be associated with ruminative thinking as a transdiagnostic factor for CMDs.
Methods: Thirty-seven adults (Mean Age = 25.57, SD = 7.18) completed the Mediterranean Diet Adherence Screener (MEDAS) and were classified into high- and low-quality diet groups and completed the Ruminative Response Scale. All participants underwent resting-state functional MRI (fMRI) to determine whole-brain rs-FC of the medial prefrontal cortex (mPFC).
Results: Participants in the high MEDAS group (vs. low MEDAS group) exhibited significantly greater rs-FC of the mPFC seed with the thalamus, caudate and putamen. Additionally, the strength of rs-FC of the mPFC seed with these regions was positively associated with the MEDAS scores across groups in both crude and adjusted models. There were no significant associations between the strength of rs-FC of the mPFC seed with the cluster of voxels with the thalamus, caudate, and putamen and ruminative thinking.
Discussion: This work shows that healthy dietary patterns are associated with rs-FC in the frontal-subcortical circuitry in healthy volunteers. Considering the implications of the dysregulation of this circuity, adhering to healthy dietary patterns may offer a promising alternative/complementary method to improve CMDs, cognitive control, and food choices.
期刊介绍:
The European Journal of Nutrition publishes original papers, reviews, and short communications in the nutritional sciences. The manuscripts submitted to the European Journal of Nutrition should have their major focus on the impact of nutrients and non-nutrients on
immunology and inflammation,
gene expression,
metabolism,
chronic diseases, or
carcinogenesis,
or a major focus on
epidemiology, including intervention studies with healthy subjects and with patients,
biofunctionality of food and food components, or
the impact of diet on the environment.