TY - JOUR
T1 - Nutritional supplementation boosts aerobic exercise effects on functional brain systems
AU - Voss, Michelle W.
AU - Sutterer, Matthew
AU - Weng, Timothy B.
AU - Burzynska, Agnieszka Z.
AU - Fanning, Jason
AU - Salerno, Elizabeth
AU - Gothe, Neha P.
AU - Ehlers, Diane K.
AU - McAuley, Edward
AU - Kramer, Arthur F.
N1 - Funding Information:
We thank Anya Knecht, Susan Houseworth, Nancy Dodge, Holly Tracy, and all the Lifelong Brain and Cognition Laboratory and Exercise Psychology Laboratory graduate students and staff for help in participant recruitment and data collection. This work was supported by the National Institute on Aging at the National Institutes of Health (Grant R37-AG-025667) and funding from Abbott Nutrition through the Center for Nutrition, Learning, and Memory at the University of Illinois.
Publisher Copyright:
Copyright © 2019 the American Physiological Society
PY - 2019/1
Y1 - 2019/1
N2 - There is growing evidence that aerobic exercise protects against age-related cognitive decline and that cardiorespiratory fitness is an important factor for these benefits. Studies also suggest that combining physical activity with cognitive enrichment is beneficial. We further examine these predictions by comparing effects of a nutritional supplement promoting exercise capacity to a lower-intensity activity with cognitive enrichment on functional network and cognitive outcomes that otherwise decline with aging. Inactive healthy older adults were randomized to one of four groups including a low-intensity activity with complex cognitive demands (dancing), walking, walkingsupplement, or an active control. Results showed that walkingsupplement increased salience network functional connectivity (FC), with less training benefit for default mode network FC. Although cognitive performance did not increase for any training group, participants in the walkingsupplement group who were on medication that boosted key neurotransmitters (e.g., selective serotonin reuptake inhibitors) showed improved processing speed. Overall, this study provides new insight into how to boost the protective effects of exercise on brain systems that otherwise deteriorate with aging.
AB - There is growing evidence that aerobic exercise protects against age-related cognitive decline and that cardiorespiratory fitness is an important factor for these benefits. Studies also suggest that combining physical activity with cognitive enrichment is beneficial. We further examine these predictions by comparing effects of a nutritional supplement promoting exercise capacity to a lower-intensity activity with cognitive enrichment on functional network and cognitive outcomes that otherwise decline with aging. Inactive healthy older adults were randomized to one of four groups including a low-intensity activity with complex cognitive demands (dancing), walking, walkingsupplement, or an active control. Results showed that walkingsupplement increased salience network functional connectivity (FC), with less training benefit for default mode network FC. Although cognitive performance did not increase for any training group, participants in the walkingsupplement group who were on medication that boosted key neurotransmitters (e.g., selective serotonin reuptake inhibitors) showed improved processing speed. Overall, this study provides new insight into how to boost the protective effects of exercise on brain systems that otherwise deteriorate with aging.
KW - Aging
KW - Cardiorespiratory fitness
KW - Default mode network
KW - Functional connectivity
KW - Physical activity
KW - Randomized controlled trial
KW - Salience network
UR - http://www.scopus.com/inward/record.url?scp=85059879835&partnerID=8YFLogxK
U2 - 10.1152/japplphysiol.00917.2017
DO - 10.1152/japplphysiol.00917.2017
M3 - Article
C2 - 30382806
AN - SCOPUS:85059879835
SN - 0161-7567
VL - 126
SP - 77
EP - 87
JO - Journal of Applied Physiology
JF - Journal of Applied Physiology
IS - 1
ER -