Does hazelnut consumption affect brain health and function against neurodegenerative diseases?

ABSTRACT

Introduction: A healthy daily diet and consuming certain nutrients, such as polyphenols, vitamins, and unsaturated fatty acids, may help neuronal health maintenance. Polyphenolic chemicals, which have antioxidant and anti-inflammatory properties, are involved in the neuroprotective pathway. Because of their nutritional value, nuts have been shown in recent research to be helpful in neuroprotection. Objective: Hazelnut is often consumed worldwide in various items, including processed foods, particularly in bakery, chocolate, and confectionery products. This nut is an excellent source of vitamins, amino acids, tocopherols, phytosterols, polyphenols, minerals, and unsaturated fatty acids. Consuming hazelnut may attenuate the risk of neurodegenerative disorders including Alzheimer’s disease, Parkinson’s disease, amyotrophic lateral sclerosis, multiple sclerosis, and Huntington’s disease due to its anti-inflammatory and anti-oxidant qualities. Results: Many documents introduce hazelnut as an excellent choice to provide neuroprotection against neurodegenerative disorders and there is some direct proof of its neuroprotective effects. Discussion: So hazelnut consumption in daily diet may reduce neurodegenerative disease risk and be advantageous in reducing the imposed costs of dealing with neurodegenerative diseases.

KEYWORDS:

• Hazelnut
• Alzheimer’s disease
• Parkinson’s disease
• amyotrophic lateral sclerosis
• multiple sclerosis
• Huntington’s disease
• neuroprotection
• anti-inflammatory

Acknowledgements

The authors would like to thank the Traditional Medicine Clinical Trial Research Center, Shahed University, Tehran, Iran for the support given to this study.

Disclosure statement

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

Data availability statement

The data that support the findings of this study are available from the corresponding author and will be shared upon request.

Additional information

Notes on contributors

Shadi Talebi

Shadi Talebi, Medical student at Azad Islamic University of Yazd and a Research Assistant at Neuroscience Research Center of Shahid Beheshti University of Medical Sciences and Research Centre of Azad Islamic University of Yazd University of Medical Science. Her major interest is neuroscience.

Fariba Khodagholi

Fariba Khodagholi, Ph.D. is a Professor of Biochemistry in the Neuroscience Research Center in Shahid Beheshti University of Medical Sciences, Tehran, Iran. Her area of research interest focuses on neuroscience.

Zahra Bahaeddin

Zahra Bahaeddin, Ph.D. is an Assistant Professor in Traditional Medicine Clinical Trial Research Center in Shahed University, Tehran, Iran. She obtained her Ph.D. in 2016 from Shahid Beheshti University of Medical Sciences in Traditional Pharmacy. Her area of research interest is on neuroscience and nutraceuticals.

Mitra Ansari Dezfouli

Mitra Ansari Dezfouli, Ph.D. is Assistant professor of neuroscience in the neurology department in Ahvaz Jundishapur University of Medical Sciences, Ahvaz, Iran. Her area of research interest focuses on molecular neuroscience.

Arman Zeinaddini-Meymand

Arman Zeinaddini-Meymand is a Medical Graduate of Shahid Beheshti University of Medical Sciences and a Research Assistant at the Neuroscience Research Center of Shahid Beheshti University of Medical Sciences and Sina Trauma & Surgery Research Center of Tehran University of Medical Sciences. His major interest is Neurological Surgery and Clinical Neurology.

Samuel Berchi Kankam

Samuel Berchi Kankam is a Medical Graduate of Tehran University of Medical Sciences and a Research Assistant at the Sina Trauma & Surgery Research Center and Department of Neurosurgery, Shariati Hospital. Also, he is a member of the International Neurosurgery Group, affiliated with the Universal Scientific Education and Research Network. His research interest is Clinical Neurology and Neurosurgery.

Forough Foolad

Forough Foolad, Ph.D. is a Postdoc fellow of Neurophysiology in the Laboratory for Neuronal Regenerative and Repair at Tarbiat Modares University, Tehran, Iran. She obtained her Ph.D. in Physiology at Tarbiat Modares University in 2020.

Fatemeh Alijaniha

Fatemeh Alijaniha, Ph.D. is an Assistant Professor in Traditional Medicine Clinical Trial Research Center in Shahed University, Tehran, Iran. Her research interest is in traditional pharmacy methods, natural products, and nutraceuticals.

Fatemeh Fayazi Piranghar

Fatemeh Fayazi Piranghar, completed her undergraduate degree in Cellular and Molecular Biology in Azad University of Medical Sciences, Tehran Branch. Prior to this, she was a Research Assistant in the Neuroscience Research Center of Shahid Beheshti University of Medical Sciences. Her research interests focus on molecular and cellular neuroscience.