Objective
The objective of this study was to determine the effects of a 14-day healthy longevity
lifestyle program on cognition and cerebral metabolism in people with mild age-related
memory complaints.
Methods
Seventeen nondemented subjects, aged 35–69 years (mean: 53 years, standard deviation:
10) with mild self-reported memory complaints but normal baseline memory performance
scores were randomly assigned to 1) the intervention group (N = 8): a program combining
a brain healthy diet plan, relaxation exercises, cardiovascular conditioning, and
mental exercise (brain teasers and verbal memory training techniques); or 2) the control
group (N = 9): usual lifestyle routine. Pre- and postintervention measures included
self-assessments of memory ability, objective tests of cognitive performance, and
determinations of regional cerebral metabolism during mental rest with [fluorine-18]fluorodeoxyglucose
(FDG) positron emission tomography (PET).
Results
Subjects in the intervention group objectively demonstrated greater word fluency.
Concomitantly, their FDG-PET scans identified a 5% decrease in activity in the left
dorsolateral prefrontal cortex. The control group showed no significant change in
any of the measures.
Conclusions
A short-term healthy lifestyle program combining mental and physical exercise, stress
reduction, and healthy diet was associated with significant effects on cognitive function
and brain metabolism. Reduced resting activity in left dorsolateral prefrontal cortex
may reflect greater cognitive efficiency of a brain region involved in working memory.
Key words
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Article info
Publication history
Accepted:
March 3,
2006
Received in revised form:
February 27,
2006
Received:
December 17,
2005
Footnotes
This study was supported by the Department of Energy (DOE contract DE-FC03-87-ER60615), General Clinical Research Centers Program M01-RR00865, the Fran and Ray Stark Foundation Fund for Alzheimer's Disease Research, and the Judith Olenick Elgart Fund for Research on Brain Aging.
Presented in part at the International Conference on Alzheimer's Disease and Related Disorders (July 2004) and the Annual Meeting of the American College of Neuropsychopharmacology (December 2005).
The authors thank Ms. Andrea Kaplan, Ms. Debbie Dorsey, Ms. Gwendolyn Byrd, and Ms. Teresann Crowe-Lear for help in subject recruitment, data management, and study coordination.
Identification
Copyright
© 2006 American Association for Geriatric Psychiatry. Published by Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.
