Scientific Conference, March 23, 2010
WELL-BEING AND NUTRITION: SOME PROMISING RESEARCH
 “Well-being”: we are all aware of it without always being able to put our finger on what it is. But how can science take this notion into account, how to characterise it and understand how nutrition, and especially certain nutrients, can prevent the development of behaviour and cognition problems. It is often via this state of “ill-being” that well-being can thus be measured and understood. During the next Taste-Nutrition-Health International Congress in 2010, Sophie Layé, an INRA researcher, will be giving a conference on this subject of “well-being”.
Within the research unit “PsyNuGen” of INRA Bordeaux, the “Nutrition, cytokines and psychiatric disorders” research team, that Sophie Layé directs, research is being carried out that is of particular interest to the food and pharmaceutical industries. When attacked by, for example, a virus or bacteria, the body reacts by producing alarm signals, cytokines, that serve to activate the immune system.
In addition, these signals warn the brain, allowing it to develop a defence strategy that is translated in particular by mood and sleep problems, memory loss, loss of appetite and social withdrawal. These behaviours, that are reversible, are under the command of the action of these cytokines that act on various brain structures.
However, the synthesis of cytokines is not always associated with a state of defence within the body. In certain elderly people who immune systems are deregulated, those are under treatment for certain illnesses, or even obese people, a small by prolonged activation of these signals has been observed. These are toxic for neurones and can lead to the development of attention disorders or more serious depressive situations.
Understanding the anti-inflammatory nature of certain micronutrients
Within the PsyNuGen research unit, Sophie Layé’s team works in particular in the preventative rol of nutrition in the development of mood and cognition disorders, these being characteristic alterations linked to a state of “ill-being”.
“We are trying to understand how certain micronutrients, whose anti-inflammatory activity has been observed, can contribute to preventing the development of these problems,” she explains. These researchers are looking in particular at poly-unsaturated fatty acids of which large amounts are found in the brain. There are two forms, better known as Omega-3, found in fish, seafood and rapeseed oil, and Omega-6, found in sunflower oil. They have proven that young mice, following a diet deficient in Omega-3, develop more memory problems and present higher levels of inflammatory cytokines than mice with a balances diet.
The project COGINUT (1), lead by INSERM and funded by France’s national research funding agency, aims to study the impact of nutritional status in terms of poly-unsaturated fatty acids and antioxidants on ageing of the brain (dementia, cognitive decline, mood disorders). The Bordeaux-based team has been working on this project since 2006 on individuals of over 65 years old and whose dietary habits are documents.
“The results we have obtained indicate that un chronic sufferers, the level of Omega-3 is low. In addition, their quality of life is more altered than for people with no immune activity,” concludes Sophie Layé. Indeed, chronic mood disorders observed in elderly people could result from an over-production of cytokines, linked to a deficiency in Omega-3.
Growing interest from industry
After having showed in animals that a nutrition rich in Omega-3, in the form of short chains fatty acids, thus more often from plant sources, is not sufficiently effective for preventing the development of innate immune deterioration in the brain, while the use of long chains over short periods have positive effects, the “Nutrition, cytokines and psychiatric disorders” team is today carrying out tests on elderly subjects.
“Prevention requires that we understand not only what type of micronutrient must be used, but also in what form and, probably, in what nutritional combinations. For example, maybe we should associate antioxidants in order to increase effectiveness.”
Hence the increasing interest of industry players in the pharmaceutical and food sectors in this research which could in the medium to long term lead to a certain number of dietary recommendation or even the market launch of specific products. “Take the example of a diabetic treated medically for his metabolic disorder. Nutritional recommendations could in fact contribute to improving the mood disorders that accompany this type of pathology, and which, today, are not being treated,” underlines Sophie Layé.
(1) Cognition, antioxidants, fatty acids : multidisciplinary approach to nutrition in ageing of the brain |
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