The Relationship Between Mushroom Consumption and Age-Related Cognitive Decline

by | Feb 14, 2024 | 2024, Aging, Brain Health, Cognitive Health

Written by Harold Oster, MD. Results suggest that regular mushroom consumption is associated with improved cognition in older adults.

fruits and vegetables - mushroomsAging is associated with degenerative changes in the brain that often lead to cognitive decline. More than forty percent of Americans over the age of 85 have dementia, most commonly Alzheimer’s Disease1. Edible mushrooms contain various bioactive compounds with antioxidant, anti-inflammatory, and immune-modulating properties2. Results of studies of the effect of mushrooms on cognition have been mixed3.

Sara Cha, Lynne Bell, and Claire M. Williams studied the relationship between edible mushroom consumption and cognitive performance in older adults. The authors analyzed data from the European Prospective Investigation of Cancer-Norfolk (EPIC-Norfolk), a prospective study of over thirty thousand people in the United Kingdom designed to investigate the effect of dietary and other factors on age-related diseases4. Information was collected with questionnaires, interviews, and blood tests, and three health checks were performed between 1997 and 2011. At the third examination, a battery of validated cognitive tests (EPIC-COG) was performed5. At each health check-in, participants estimated their mushroom consumption on a questionnaire, placing their intake into one of nine categories ranging from less than one portion per month to more than six portions per day. The frequency of fruit and vegetable consumption (excluding mushrooms) was assessed with a questionnaire at the third health assessment.

The authors noted the following:

  • Based on inclusion criteria, data from 5091 participants was analyzed.
  • All participants were at least forty years old, and 97.3% were over 55 years old.
  • Mushroom intake decreased during the study, from 1.42 portions per week at the first assessment to 1.30 at the third assessment.
  • On average, participants who consumed one to three mushroom portions per month or one or more portions per week scored better on the EPIC-COG than those who ate less than one portion per month.
  • After adjustment for fruit and vegetable intake, the association between mushroom intake and improved cognition persisted.

Results suggest that mushroom intake is associated with improved cognition in older adults. Limitations include the study’s cross-sectional design and the possibility of residual confounding variables.

Source: Cha, Sara, Lynne Bell, and Claire M. Williams. “The Relationship between Mushroom Intake and Cognitive Performance: An Epidemiological Study in the European Investigation of Cancer—Norfolk Cohort (EPIC-Norfolk).” Nutrients 16, no. 3 (2024): 353.

© 2024 by the authors. Licensee MDPI, Basel, Switzerland. This article is an open access article distributed under the terms and conditions of the Creative Commons Attribution (CC BY) license (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/
4.0/).

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Posted February 14, 2024.

Harold Oster, MD graduated from medical school in Miami, Florida in 1992 and moved to Minnesota in 2004. After more than 25 years of practicing Internal Medicine, he recently retired. Dr. Oster is especially interested in nutrition, weight management, and disease prevention.

References:

  1. Bishop NA, Lu T, Yankner BA. Neural mechanisms of ageing and cognitive decline. Nature. Mar 25 2010;464(7288):529-35. doi:10.1038/nature08983
  2. Kumar K, Mehra R, Guiné RPF, et al. Edible Mushrooms: A Comprehensive Review on Bioactive Compounds with Health Benefits and Processing Aspects. Foods. Dec 4 2021;10(12)doi:10.3390/foods10122996
  3. Cha S, Bell L, Shukitt-Hale B, Williams CM. A review of the effects of mushrooms on mood and neurocognitive health across the lifespan. Neuroscience and biobehavioral reviews. Jan 19 2024;158:105548. doi:10.1016/j.neubiorev.2024.105548
  4. Hayat SA, Luben R, Keevil VL, et al. Cohort profile: A prospective cohort study of objective physical and cognitive capability and visual health in an ageing population of men and women in Norfolk (EPIC-Norfolk 3). Int J Epidemiol. Aug 2014;43(4):1063-72. doi:10.1093/ije/dyt086
  5. Hayat SA, Luben R, Moore S, et al. Cognitive function in a general population of men and women: a cross sectional study in the European Investigation of Cancer-Norfolk cohort (EPIC-Norfolk). BMC Geriatr. Dec 19 2014;14:142. doi:10.1186/1471-2318-14-142