The Association between Mushroom Consumption and Mild Cognitive Impairment: A Community-Based Cross-Sectional Study in Singapore

Abstract

We examined the cross-sectional association between mushroom intake and mild cognitive impairment (MCI) using data from 663 participants aged 60 and above from the Diet and Healthy Aging (DaHA) study in Singapore. Compared with participants who consumed mushrooms less than once per week, participants who consumed mushrooms >2 portions per week had reduced odds of having MCI (odds ratio = 0.43, 95% CI 0.23-0.78, p = 0.006) and this association was independent of age, gender, education, cigarette smoking, alcohol consumption, hypertension, diabetes, heart disease, stroke, physical activities, and social activities. Our cross-sectional data support the potential role of mushrooms and their bioactive compounds in delaying neurodegeneration.

The biology of ergothioneine, an antioxidant nutraceutical

“…Without mechanisms, finding that the concentration of a dietary metabolite X is low in disease Y does not mean that giving it might be of benefit in the prevention, delay or cure of that disease, although cases can clearly be made when X is a vitamin, or oxidative stress is known to be a damaging component of Y (8,348) . Thus far, we lack examples in which ERG is found both to be low in individuals with a particular syndrome and where exogenous administration effects functional improvements, althoughas reviewed abovewe often have one or the other.…”

“…Mushrooms have been shown to have very substantial effects on cognitive function (341,348,(510)(511)(512)(513) , and this is mainly ascribed to their ERG content, that also deceases with the age of the consumer (391) . The kinds of evidence include both doubleblind, placebo-controlled clinical trials (341) and observational (cross-sectional) studies in both humans (348,(510)(511)(512) and rodents (513) . Thus, consuming 1•5 mushroom servings per week was associated with a halving of the incidence of mild cognitive impairment (a precursor of Alzheimer's dementia), while intake of nine servings per week was associated with a five-fold decrease (348) .…”

“…The kinds of evidence include both doubleblind, placebo-controlled clinical trials (341) and observational (cross-sectional) studies in both humans (348,(510)(511)(512) and rodents (513) . Thus, consuming 1•5 mushroom servings per week was associated with a halving of the incidence of mild cognitive impairment (a precursor of Alzheimer's dementia), while intake of nine servings per week was associated with a five-fold decrease (348) . Note, however, that at least one mushroom trial indicated no measurable benefits in healthy young physical education students (514) .…”

β-glucan from Lentinula Edodes Prevents Cognitive Impairments in High-Fat Diet-Induced Obese Mice: Involvement of Colon-Brain Xxis

“…Collectively, these data demonstrated that L. Edodes β-glucan ameliorated the cognitive de cits induced by chronic HF diet, and these neuroprotective effects potentially occurred through the improvement of the colon-microbiota-brain axis. Previously, edible mushrooms have shown the bene cial effects on cognition in a cross-sectional study [20]. Here we reported that the main ingredient of edible mushroom, L. Edodes β-glucan, improved the gut microbiotabrain axis.…”

“…Interestingly, two studies have reported that the supplementation of L. edodes derived β-glucan for consecutive 28 days can improve gut microbiome dysbiosis in aged mice [18], and thereby improve insulin resistance in insulin-de cient type 2 diabetic rats [19]. Moreover, a recent cross-sectional study has shown that mushroom consumption had reduced the incidence rate of mild cognitive impairment in aged individuals in Singapore [20]. These ndings suggest that the main ingredient of L. edodes, β-glucan, may have the potential to regulate gut microbiota and gut-brain axis.…”