Good Nutrition and Exercise May Improve Cognitive Abilities - But How?

Many studies have investigated the positive effects of exercise on physical and cognitive health. In October 2020, “Scientific Reports” published a study suggesting that, in addition to exercise, the Mediterranean diet's nutrients, consumed in a nutritional supplement, may enhance these effects further.  

This research involved personnel serving at Wright Patterson Air Force Base in the state of Ohio in the United States, specifically 148 Air Force personnel. Participants were randomly divided into two groups, an intervention group and a control group. Participants in both groups trained for 12 weeks, every day with 5 sessions lasting 45 minutes each, but only participants in the intervention group were given a nutritional supplement. The training consisted of high-intensity, aerobic conditioning, and strength training.

Participants in the supplement group consumed their specially formulated nutritional supplement drink 30 minutes before and 1 hour after each session, while control-group participants consumed a drink with the same appearance and taste but without the high calorie and protein content. The supplement drink contained 267 calories of energy, while the other drink contained 100 calories. The high-protein drink with its rich composition included:

• From cabbage, spinach, avocados, and eggs: lutein,
• From oily fish such as mackerel and sardines: omega-3 fatty acids,
• An important component of cell membranes: phospholipids,
• A supplement that helps increase muscle mass and aids recovery after exercise: beta-hydroxy beta-methylbutyrate,
• From foods such as dried legumes, eggs, broccoli, and beetroot: folic acid,
• Available in 8 different types: B vitamins,
• Usually obtained from sunlight: vitamin D supplements.

Participants underwent a series of cognitive and physical fitness tests before and after the exercise program.

The cognitive tests comprised:

• Short-term memory,
• Episodic memory (the part of long-term memory containing recollections and memories),
• Fluid intelligence (the ability to reason about and deal with complex information in one's surroundings),
• Working memory (a type of short-term memory - the series of processes that allows complex tasks such as storing and processing temporary information, reading, learning, or reasoning to be performed),
• Executive cognition (reviewing and evaluating one's own ways of learning and developing practices suited to oneself),
• Efficiency,
• Reaction time parameters.

 The physical tests comprised:

• Strength,
• Endurance,
• Mobility and balance,
• Blood pressure,
• Heart rate,
• Muscle mass parameters.

The assessment showed improvement in cognitive tests among participants in the exercise-only control group: 4 tests, and in physical tests: 5 tests. Participants who received a supplement along with exercise showed improvement in cognitive tests: 6 tests, and in physical tests: all.

This study argues that there is a directly proportional relationship between exercise and physical and cognitive functions. It shows that physical and cognitive functions may improve further when a supplement containing important nutrients is used. However, the researchers state that they did not design this study to determine which nutrients improve physical and cognitive performance and say that the study has certain limitations, such as duration. Therefore, it is not fully known whether the factor causing cognitive function to improve is improvement in physical functions or use of the supplement. They also believe that obtaining nutrients through natural means, that is, from foods rather than as supplements, would be much more beneficial for the study's scope.

When we look at the composition of the supplement used in this study, we see, as stated in the study, that it contains nutrients found in foods within the Mediterranean dietary pattern. Many studies have investigated the relationship between the Mediterranean diet and cognitive health. Some of these studies suggest that the Mediterranean dietary pattern may improve cognitive health thanks to its omega-3, vitamin, mineral, and flavonoid content. In 2017, “Advances in Nutrition” published a systematic review and meta-analysis investigating the effects of the Mediterranean dietary pattern on cognitive functions in healthy individuals. This study evaluated 17 studies conducted with middle-aged participants. Cognitive functions such as attention, delayed recall, episodic memory, verbal fluency, reasoning, and short-term memory were assessed. The findings argue that eating in accordance with the Mediterranean dietary pattern may have positive effects on cognitive functions and may also contribute to preventing dementia diseases such as Alzheimer's that could develop in later years. (To examine the effects on Alzheimer's of flavonoids found in the Mediterranean diet, you can visit our related article)

There are also studies investigating the effects of exercise on cognitive health independently of the Mediterranean diet. 2019 saw a study published in “Frontiers in Aging Neuroscience” involving 2074 participants. The research investigated the effect of exercise on cognitive health in healthy participants. To evaluate the effect of exercise on cognitive health, participants were observed for 1 year, and the Mini-Mental State Examination and Montreal Cognitive Assessment were used. This study also concluded that regular exercise may have an effect on cognitive health and may contribute to preventing dementia diseases such as Alzheimer's that could develop in later years.

Summary

The study discussed in our article shows that exercise and the use of important supplemental nutrients may improve cognitive abilities. However, as we always say, obtaining beneficial nutrients by taking advantage of what nature offers us is a much more beneficial approach than taking synthetic supplements. At the same time, you should remember that many factors influence health and that health can be improved in a holistic way. While eating healthily and exercising regularly, you should also take care not to use tobacco and to avoid excessive alcohol consumption. In this way, you will both improve your cognitive functions and contribute to preventing the development of many other diseases, such as obesity, cardiovascular disease, cancer, and Alzheimer's.