β-Lactolin Enhances Neural Activity, Indicated by Event-Related P300 Amplitude, in Healthy Adults: A Randomized Controlled Trial

Abstract

Background: Epidemiological studies have shown that dairy product consumption is beneficial for cognitive function in elderly individuals. β-lactolin is a lacto-tetrapeptide Gly–Thr–Trp–Tyr rich in fermented dairy products that improves memory retrieval, attention, and executive function in older adults with subjective cognitive decline and prevents the pathology of Alzheimer’s disease in rodents. There has been no study on the effects of β-lactolin on neural activity in humans. Objective: We investigated the effects of β-lactolin on neural activity and cognitive function in healthy adults. Methods: In this randomized, double-blind, placebo-controlled study, 30 participants (45–64 years old) consumed β-lactolin or placebo for 6 weeks. Neural activity during auditory and language tasks was measured through 64-channel electroencephalography. Moreover, verbal fluency tests were performed at baseline and after 6 weeks. Results: The β-lactolin group had a significantly higher P300 amplitude at the Cp2 site (a part of the parietal lobe near the center of brain, p = 0.008), and C4 site (the area between the frontal and parietal lobe, p = 0.021) during the auditory tasks after 6 weeks than the placebo group. Thus, β-lactolin supplementation promoted neural activity in the parietal area, which increases attention during auditory cognitive tasks. Compared with the placebo group, the β-lactolin group also showed significant changes in the scores of verbal fluency test after 6 weeks (p = 0.03). Conclusion: Our findings provide insight into the mechanisms underlying the effects of β-lactolin on attention in healthy adults.

Association Between Dairy Intake and Executive Function in Chinese Children Aged 6–12 Years

“…Moreover, it can also promote spatial working memory and attention in mice with pharmacologically induced amnesia ( 46 ). A randomized, double-blind study on humans also reported that supplementation with β-lactolin increases neural activity, as indicated by the P300 amplitude, in the parietal area during auditory tasks that require attention ( 47 ). Thus, higher intake of dairy may lead to changes in the brain structure and function, particularly in the frontal cortical regions involved, through synapse formation, in neurogenesis, myelination, and glucose control.…”

β-Lactolin Reduces Age-Related Inflammation and Cognitive Decline

“…Epidemiological studies have shown that regular intake of dairy products prevents cognitive decline in the elderly ( 9 , 10 ), andour previous randomized clinical trials demonstrated that, compared with placebo, supplementation with whey peptide rich in β-lactolin for 6 or 12 weeks improves memory impairment ( 18 , 19 ) and enhances cerebral blood flow ( 21 , 22 ) and neural activity ( 20 ) in elderly with subjective cognitive decline. These reports expect that supplementations with β-lactolin for a long period is beneficial to prevent the age-related cognitive decline, on the other hand, the effects of long-term supplementation with β-lactolin, which is abundant in fermented dairy products, on age-related cognitive decline have not been investigated.…”

“…Orally administered β-lactolin has been shown to be delivered to the brain, inhibit monoamine oxidase, and increase monoamine levels in the frontal cortex and hippocampus, resulting in improvements in spatial working memory and object recognition memory in mice (15)(16)(17). In addition to preclinical studies, previous clinical trials have demonstrated that supplementation with whey peptide rich in β-lactolin improves memory retrieval, attention, and executive function in the elderly (18,19) and promotes neural activity in the cortex (20) and cerebral blood flow (21,22). These findings suggest that consumption of βlactolin is beneficial for the prevention of age-related cognitive decline.…”

Effect of Whey-Derived Lactopeptide β-Lactolin on Memory in Healthy Adults: An Integrated Analysis of Data from Randomized Controlled Trials

“…Following the initial literature review, 117 studies were found, as shown in Figure 1. Of these, 114 were excluded, and 3 studies met the eligibility criteria (25)(26)(27). The characteristics of the studies included in the integrated analysis are presented in Table 1.…”

“…In addition to preclinical studies, our previous randomized controlled trials (RCTs) showed that supplementation with β-lactolin improved the score of the verbal fluency test (VFT), which evaluated memory retrieval in healthy middle-aged adults compared with the placebo group (25,26). Furthermore, in one of these RCTs, the enhancement of P300 event-related potential amplitude, which reflects neural activity, was observed in the β-lactolin group compared with the placebo group (25). In another RCT that evaluated memory retrieval in healthy older adults, supplementation with β-lactolin improved visual paired-associate learning (27).…”