Polyunsaturated Fatty Acids (PUFA) Status and Cognitive Function in Healthy Young Adults

The Relationship Between Serum PUFAs and Cognitive Function in Healthy Young Adults

To date, the relationship between omega-3 polyunsaturated fatty acids (n-3 PUFAs) in cognitively intact individuals has only been examined in a limited number of studies; it is at present unknown whether supplementation with n-3 PUFAs can improve cognitive function and mood in this population. Further to this, it still remains to be established whether a relationship exists between peripheral fatty acid status-reflective of dietary n-3 PUFA intake-and cognitive function in this population. The current study therefore aims to address this issue by exploring the relationship between serum PUFAs and specific cognitive functions in a sample of healthy adults. To this end, participants will complete a range of cognitive tasks evaluating performance across the domains of attention, memory and executive function. Self-report mood assessments will be included as secondary measures.

Study Overview

• Status: Completed
• Conditions: Mental Fatigue; Mood; Attention; Memory

• Study Type: Observational
• Enrollment (Actual): 283

Contacts and Locations

Study Locations

• United Kingdom
  • Tyne and Wear
    • Newcastle upon Tyne, Tyne and Wear, United Kingdom, NE1 8ST
      • Northumbria University

Participation Criteria

Eligibility Criteria

• Ages Eligible for Study: 18 years to 35 years (Adult)
• Accepts Healthy Volunteers: Yes
• Genders Eligible for Study: All

• Sampling Method: Non-Probability Sample

Study Population

The sample will be drawn from a student and professional population in the Newcastle upon Tyne area in the UK

Description

Inclusion Criteria:

• Male/Female
• 18-35 years
• Healthy
• No herbal supplements/prescription medications (excl. contraceptive pill)
• Non smoker
• Native English speaker

Exclusion Criteria:

• BMI ≥ 30

Study Plan

How is the study designed?

What is the study measuring?

Primary Outcome Measures

Outcome Measure	Measure Description	Time Frame
Simple Reaction Time (Attention)	The participant was instructed to press the 'space bar' on the laptop keyboard as quickly as possible every time an upwards pointing arrow appeared on screen. Fifty stimuli were presented with an inter-stimulus duration that varied randomly between 1 and 3.5 seconds.	Single visit
Choice Reaction Time (Attention)	An arrow appeared on the screen pointing to the left or to the right. Participants responded with a left or right key press corresponding to the direction of the arrow. There was a randomly varying inter-stimulus interval of between 1 and 3 seconds for a total of fifty stimuli.	Single visit
Four Choice Reaction Time (Attention)	A visual representation of the four direction arrow keys of a standard keyboard was presented on screen. The arrows 'lit up' at random on screen until the corresponding key press was made. In all, each arrow was the target stimulus 12 times, forming a total of 48 stimuli for this task in all.	Single visit
Numeric Working Memory (Working Memory)		Single visit
Alphabetic Working Memory (Working Memory)	Five random letters (A-Z) were presented sequentially for the participant to hold in memory. This was followed by a series of 30 probe digits (15 targets and 15 distractors) for each of which the participant indicated whether or not it had been in the original series by a simple key press. The task consisted of 3 separate trials.	Single visit
Corsi Blocks Span (Spatial Working Memory)	In this task nine identical blue squares appeared on screen in non-overlapping random positions. A set number of blocks changed colour from blue to red in a randomly generated sequence. Participants were instructed to repeat the sequence by clicking on the blocks using the mouse and cursor. The task was repeated five times at each level of difficulty. The sequence span increased from 4, until the participant could no longer correctly recall the sequence, resulting in a span measure of nonverbal working memory, calculated by averaging the level of the last five correctly completed trials.	Single visit
3-back Task (Working Memory)	A continuous string of letters (upper and lower case; inter-stimulus interval of 2.5 seconds) was presented; 45 letters in total with 15 target pairs. For each stimulus, participants were instructed to indicate whether this was the same letter that appeared three letters before.	Single visit
Immediate Word Recall (Episodic Memory)	A unique set of fifteen words is presented. Words were selected at random from a large bank of words derived from the MRC Psycholinguistic Database matched for word length, frequency, familiarity and concreteness. Stimulus duration was one second, as was the inter-stimulus duration. Following word presentation, the participant was allowed 60 seconds to write down as many of the words as possible.	Single visit
Delayed Word Recall (Episodic Memory)	The participant was again given 60 seconds to write down as many of the words presented previously as possible.	Single visit
Word Recognition (Episodic Memory)	The original 15 words plus 15 distractor words were presented one at a time in a random order. For each word the participant indicated whether or not it was included in the original list of words by pressing appropriate 'yes' and 'no' keys as quickly as possible. Stimuli remained on screen until an appropriate response had been made.	Single visit

Secondary Outcome Measures

Outcome Measure	Measure Description	Time Frame
Depression, Anxiety and Stress Scale (DASS)	The DASS is a set of three self-report scales designed to measure the negative emotional states of depression, anxiety and stress. Each of the three DASS scales contains 14 items. Subjects are asked to use 4-point (0-3) severity/frequency scales to rate the extent to which they have experienced each state over the past week. Scores for Depression, Anxiety and Stress (0-42) are calculated by summing the scores for the relevant items, with higher scores indicating higher incidence of negative emotional symptoms. A total score can be derived by adding scores from each of the subscales (0-126).	Single visit-90 minutes

Collaborators and Investigators

• Sponsor: Northumbria University

Publications and helpful links

Helpful Links

• Brain, Performance and Nutrition Research Centre, Northumbria University

Study record dates

Study Major Dates

• Study Start: July 1, 2007
• Primary Completion (Actual): September 1, 2008
• Study Completion (Actual): September 1, 2008

Study Registration Dates

• First Submitted: February 24, 2010
• First Submitted That Met QC Criteria: February 24, 2010
• First Posted (Estimate): February 25, 2010

Study Record Updates

• Last Update Posted (Estimate): September 2, 2011
• Last Update Submitted That Met QC Criteria: August 2, 2011
• Last Verified: August 1, 2011

More Information

Terms related to this study

• Keywords: Cognitive function; Fish oil; n-3 PUFAs; Healthy young adults
• Additional Relevant MeSH Terms: Behavioral Symptoms; Fatigue; Mental Fatigue
• Other Study ID Numbers: 16N3