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Research Paper|Volume 12, Issue 18|pp 18660—18675

β-lactolin increases cerebral blood flow in dorsolateral prefrontal cortex in healthy adults: a randomized controlled trial

Yasuhisa Ano1, Keiko Kobayashi1, Mamoru Hanyuda2, Ryuta Kawashima3,4
  • 1Kirin Central Research Institute, Kirin Holdings Company, Ltd., Kanazawa-ku, Yokohama 236-0004, Japan
  • 2Breast Health Clinic, Chuo-ku, Tokyo 103-0025, Japan
  • 3Institute of Development, Aging and Cancer (IDAC), Tohoku University, Aoba-ku, Sendai 980-0872, Japan
  • 4NeU Corporation, Chiyoda-ku, Tokyo 101-0048, Japan
Received: June 9, 2020Accepted: August 8, 2020Published: September 29, 2020
https://doi.org/10.18632/aging.103951

Copyright: © 2020 Ano et al. This is an open access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License (CC BY 3.0), which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original author and source are credited.

Abstract

The number of elderly individuals with age-related cognitive decline or dementia is rapidly increasing. Dairy product consumption, including β-lactolin, is beneficial for their cognitive function. The underlying mechanism of β-lactolin’s effects on human brain activity is yet to be investigated. We examined the β-lactolin effects on human cerebral blood flow (CBF) using near-infrared spectroscopy (NIRS) in a placebo-controlled randomized double-blind study, which reported according to the CONSORT guidelines. Fifty healthy participants (aged 45–60 years) were randomly allocated into the β-lactolin or the placebo group (n = 25 each) and supplemented for 6 weeks. During the 6th week, oxy-hemoglobin during the working memory tasks was measured using 34-channels (CHs) NIRS. The changes of oxy-hemoglobin, which represents the CBF, in CH 23 located at the left dorsolateral prefrontal cortex (DLPFC) during the spatial working memory task showed higher statistical significance (false discovery rate (q) = 0.045) in the β-lactolin than in the placebo group. The oxy-Hb changes in CH23 have a co-relationship with the working memory task reaction time. This clinical trial showed an increase in the CBF in the left DLPFC area during the 6-week β-lactolin supplementation. This study contributes to elucidating the underlying mechanisms of β-lactolin on cognitive performance.