Effects of nutritional interventions on BDNF concentrations in humans: a systematic review

Figures & data

Figure 1. PRISMA flowchart of the selection process.

Table 1. Characteristics of the studies included per cluster in the systematic review.

First author (year)	Population	Experimental group/control (N)	Intervention	Duration	Effects on BDNF*
Dietary Patterns & Foods
Sánchez-Villegas (2011)	At high cardiovascular risk	91/77	Mediterranean diet with virgin olive oil	3 y	=
		75/77	Mediterranean diet with mixed nuts		=
Sandberg (2018)	Healthy	19	Whole grain rye kernel-based bread	1–3 d	↑
Suzuki (2019)	Mild cognitive impaired	35	Mold fermented cheese	12 wks	↑
Diets Based on Energy Intake
Carlson (2007)	Healthy	21	Reduced meal frequency	8 wks	=
Catenacci (2016)	Obese	15/14	Zero-calorie alternate-day fasting	8 wks	=
Cherif (2017)	Healthy	22	Islamic intermittent fasting	3 d	=
Khoshandam Ghashang (2019)	Healthy	25/25	Ramadan fasting	29 d	=
Guimaraes (2008)	Schizophrenic	25/42	Hypocaloric diet	11.5-26 mo	↑
Harvie (2011)	Obese	54/53	Continuous energy restriction	26 wks	=
Schübel (2018)	Overweight	47/51	Intermittent calorie restriction	12 wks	=
		46/51	Continuous calorie restriction
Supplements
Vitamins & Minerals
Jafari (2019)	Premenstrual syndrome	27/30	Zinc gluconate	12 wks	↑
Kheirouri (2018)	Diabetic	25/25	Zinc gluconate	12 wks	=
Pirotta (2014)	Healthy	13/13	Vitamin D3	10 wks	=
Ranjbar (2014)	Depressed	22/22	Zinc sulfate	12 wks	=
Solati (2015)	Obese	24/26	Zinc gluconate	12 wks	↑
Walentukiewicz (2018)	Healthy	27/30	Vitamin D3	12 wks	–
Yosaee (2020)	Depressed	24/22	Zinc gluconate	12 wks	–
		27/22	Vitamin D3		–
		25/22	Zinc gluconate + vitamin D3		–
Polyphenols
Choi (2016)	Healthy	40/40	Eriobotrya japonica Lindley	12 wks	=
Choi (2016)	Healthy	10/11	Fermented Laminaria japonica	8 wks	↑
Huhn (2018)	Healthy	30/30	Resveratrol	26 wks	=
Liu (2018)	Healthy	37/39	Ellagic acid	12 wks	=
	Overweight	38/36			↑
Osali (2020)	Metabolic syndrome	11/11^a	Nano-curcumin	6 wks	–
Reid (2018)	Healthy	32/28	Fermented Laminaria japonica A.	6 wks	↑
Sadowska-Krepa (2017)	Healthy	9 / 9	Ginkgo biloba extract	6 wks	=
Sadowska-Krepa (2019)	Healthy	8/8	Green tea extract	6 wks	–
Sumiyoshi (2019)	Healthy	10/8	Dark chocolate	4 wks	=
Witte (2014)	Overweight	23/23	Resveratrol	26 wks	=
Yu (2015)	Depressed	50/50	Curcumin	6 wks	↑
Long-Chain Omega-3 Polyunsaturated Fatty Acids
Bot (2011)	Diabetic	13/12	E-EPA	12 wks	=
Burg, van der (2019)	Depressed	42/41	EPA + DHA	8 wks	=
Matsuoka (2015)	Traumatized	53/57	EPA + DHA	12 wks	=
Sedláček (2018)	Overweight	11/10	EPA + DHA	12 wks	=
Witte (2014)	Healthy	40/40	LC-n3-FA	26 wks	–
Probiotics
Chung (2014)	Healthy	26/10	L. helveticus IDCC3801-fermented milk	12 wks	=
Haghighat (2019)	Hemodialysis + depressed	25/25	Prebiotics + L. acidophilus T16, B. bifidum BIA-6, B. lactis BIA-7, B. longum BIA-8	12 wks	↑
		25/25	L. acidophilus T16, B. bifidum BIA-6, B. lactis BIA-7, B. longum BIA-8		=
Hwang (2019)	Mild cognitive impaired	50/50	L. plantarum C29-fermented soybean	12 wks	–
Kim (2020)	Healthy	63	B. bifidum BGN4 + B. longum BORI	12 wks	↑
Pinto-Sanchez (2017)	Irritable bowel syndrome	22/22	B. longum NCC3001	6 wks	=
Riezzo (2018)	Constipated	28/28	L. reuteri DSM-17938	15 wks	–
Romijn (2017)	Depressed	28/36	L. helveticus + B. longum	8 wks	=
West (2014)	Healthy	46/51	B. animalis subsp. lactis BI-04	21 wks	=
		47/51	L. acidophilus NCFM + B. animalis subsp. lactis BI-07		=
Miscellaneous: Protein (Extracts) & Lipids
Almeida, de (2019)	Healthy + depressed	35/34	Ayahuasca	1 d	↑
Chui (2014)	Healthy	24/24	LD-1227 marine nutraceutical	9 wks	↑
Kim (2015)	Frail elderly	32/33	Milk fat globule membrane	13 wks	=
Petelin (2019)	Overweight	30/30	Royal jelly	8 wks	=
Sarris (2019)	Depressed	81/77	S-adenosyl methionine + folinic acid + EPA + DHA + 5-HTP + zinc picolinate + co-factor vitamins	8 wks	=
Stringham (2019)	Healthy	49/10	Macular xanthophyll	26 wks	↑
Varanoske (2020)	Healthy	10/9	β-alanine	2 wks	=

Notes: *compared to control; ^aassuming that subjects were equally divided into groups; = no statistically significant effect; ↑ statistically significant increase; – significance level missing; DHA: docosahexaenoic acid; EPA: eicosapentaenoic acid; E-EPA: ethyl-eicosapentaenoic acid; LC-n3-FA: long-chain omega-3 polyunsaturated fatty acids.

Osali A. Aerobic exercise and nano-curcumin supplementation improve inflammation in elderly females with metabolic syndrome. Diabetol Metab Syndr. 2020;12:26.

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Data availability statement

Data sharing is not applicable to this article as no new data were created or analyzed in this study.