Nutrient effects on working memory across the adult lifespan

ABSTRACT

Objective

To identify the nutrients that influence the performance of working memory, which is greatly affected as age progresses.

Method

A total of 1646 healthy adults between 21 and 80 years old participated in the study. The daily consumption of 64 nutrients was examined using a food frequency questionnaire that assessed food intake during the previous year. Working memory was measured in the verbal and spatial domains using a computerized task. We examined which nutrients influence working memory across the entire adult lifespan and whether the influence of any of these nutrients on working memory is moderated by individuals’ ages.

Results

Working memory, across the entire adult lifespan, benefits from the intake of cholesterol, alcohol, gamma- and delta-tocopherol, vitamin B6, and palmitoleic, oleic, alpha linoleic and linoleic acids. Moderator analyses revealed that fats, energy, lactose and sodium negatively influenced working memory in middle-aged and older adults, whereas vitamin D and vitamin C had positive effects on memory beyond 70 years of age.

Conclusion

Nutrients have the ability to positively or negatively affect working memory, which varies as a function of age.

KEYWORDS:

• Working memory
• nutrients
• dietary
• moderator analysis
• lifespan
• aging
• n-back task
• memory

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the author(s).

Additional information

Funding

This work was supported by the National Autonomous University of Mexico, General Direction of Academic Personal Affairs (DGAPA) [grant numbers IN304202, IN300206, IN300309, ID300312, IG300115, IG300618, and IG300121].

Notes on contributors

Selene Cansino

Selene Cansino is a professor and head of the Laboratory of NeuroCognition in the Faculty of Psychology at the National Autonomous University of Mexico (UNAM, for its acronym in Spanish). Cansino’s research focuses on the behavioral, anatomical and physiological bases of cognitive processes, a subject that she studies using the techniques of event-related potentials, magnetoencephalography, and functional magnetic resonance imaging. In particular, she is interested in the neurofunctional interactions of working memory and episodic memory with other processes, such as perception, attention, cognitive control, emotion, learning, plasticity, and aging. She earned her PhD at UNAM and completed postdoctoral training at the University of Paris VI and New York University.

Frine Torres-Trejo

Frine Torres-Trejo obtained her PhD at the National Autonomous University of Mexico (UNAM), and her research area focuses on cognitive neuroscience. She has collaborated in several research projects at the Laboratory of NeuroCognition in the Faculty of Psychology at UNAM for several years.

Cinthya Estrada-Manilla

Cinthya Estrada-Manilla earned her PhD at the National Autonomous University of Mexico (UNAM). Her work focuses on using event-related potentials to study cognitive processes. She is currently at the National Evaluation Center for Higher Education in Mexico City.

Adriana Flores-Mendoza

Adriana Flores-Mendoza is a bachelor’s student in psychology and has collaborated at the Laboratory of NeuroCognition in the Faculty of Psychology at the National Autonomous University of Mexico.

Gerardo Ramírez-Pérez

Gerardo Ramírez-Pérez is a bachelor’s student in psychology and has collaborated at the Laboratory of NeuroCognition in the Faculty of Psychology at the National Autonomous University of Mexico.

Silvia Ruiz-Velasco

Silvia Ruiz-Velasco obtained her PhD at the Imperial College of Science Technology and Medicine in the United Kingdom. She is a full professor at the Applied Mathematics and Systems Research Institute at the National Autonomous University of Mexico (UNAM). Her area of expertise is in biostatistics. Her research focuses on multivariate analysis, medical models in medicine, models for longitudinal data and repeated observations. She coordinates the postgraduate program in Mathematical Sciences at UNAM.