Descrizione del progetto
Mantenere in salute il cervello anziano
La prevalenza del declino cognitivo aumenta con l’età. La nutrizione è un aspetto che viene studiato in risposta all’invecchiamento della popolazione e per prevenire l’insorgere del declino cognitivo. Il ruolo della nutrizione nel mantenimento delle facoltà cognitive potrebbe offrire nuove soluzioni attraverso le scienze mediche e nutrizionali. Il progetto CAN, finanziato dall’UE condurrà una ricerca trasversale interdisciplinare basata su metodologie e tecnologie d’avanguardia prodotte dall’unione di settori come l’epidemiologia nutrizionale e le neuroscienze cognitive. Amplierà le conoscenze circa la struttura e le funzioni del cervello che possono essere sostenute da determinate sostanze nutritive o da modelli alimentari specifici con un impatto profondo per un sano invecchiamento del cervello.
Obiettivo
Since 2014, cross-section and interventional work at the Nutrition Research Centre Ireland, Waterford Institute of Technology has demonstrated the importance of good nutrition, and the benefits of targeted nutritional supplementation, in optimising the neurocognitive environment. Research at the centre has intensified over the last few years to support a biologically plausible rationale whereby nutritional intervention can positively impact on cognitive outcomes in cognitively healthy and mildly impaired individuals. Importantly, what remains to be fully understood is the specific brain regions and neural networks that are potentially mediated by nutrition. Inspiring new programs of medical research can translate findings from nutritional science into innovative clinical assessment tools, technologies, and therapies to advance the practice of modern medicine. At the frontiers of this path-breaking effort is research within the emerging interdisciplinary field of nutritional cognitive neuroscience (NCN), which was established at the Decision Neuroscience Laboratory, University of Illinois. Using state of the art methodologies and technologies from the fields of nutritional epidemiology and cognitive neuroscience, NCN aims to advance our understanding of the beneficial effects of nutrition on the ageing brain. The Cognition And Nutrition (CAN) project will generate new knowledge within the NCN field to better understand the ways in which aspects of brain structure and function can be supported by particular nutrients and dietary patterns. In addition, CAN will stimulate interdisciplinary collaboration and bi-directional transfer of knowledge between both centres. Ultimately, this work will have profound implications for understanding healthy brain aging and for treating age-related neurological disease, as well as improving the precision of nutritional interventions that will inform future research practices and public policy.
Campo scientifico
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Meccanismo di finanziamento
MSCA-IF - Marie Skłodowska-Curie Individual Fellowships (IF)Coordinatore
X91 K0EK Waterford
Irlanda