Aging
Conditions
Keywords
Brain structure and function, Nutrition, Microbiome, Continuous blood glucose monitoring
Brief summary
The Westlake Nutrition and Brain Study (WEBRAIN), a sub-study of the Guangzhou Nutrition and Health Study, is a prospective cohort study of residents in Guangzhou city. WEBRAIN aims to explore the links between diet, gut microbiome, and brain health in elderly individuals through comprehensive phenotyping, including continuous blood glucose monitoring for standardized test meals, objective physical activity measurement, and brain magnetic resonance imaging.
Detailed description
The gut-brain axis is implicated in neurodegenerative diseases through various mechanisms, with diet and nutrition linked to both gut and brain health. However, most evidence comes from animal models or small-scale human studies. The Westlake Nutrition and Brain Study (WEBRAIN) aims to investigate the relationships among diet, gut microbiome, and brain structure and function in a large human cohort through comprehensive phenotyping: 1) objective physical activity measurement using accelerometers over two weeks; 2) continuous blood glucose monitoring for two weeks, including two standardized test meals, alongside traditional dietary assessment via Food Frequency Questionnaires (FFQ) and 24-hour recalls; 3) assessment of cognitive function and brain imaging using the Addenbrooke's Cognitive Examination-Revised (ACE-R) and brain MRI; and 4) gut microbiome profiling analysis using sequencing techniques.
Interventions
OTHERRefine grain breakfast
After wearing continuous glucose monitoring device (CGM) on baseline, participants will be provided with breakfast A on two consecutive days in a whoe 14-day monitoring period. The appearance of breakfast A is pseudorandom. Breakfast A contains white bread (100g) and milk powder (25g). Since lunch and dinner would serve as wash-out meals, participants will be free to choose food but provide a record of their diets.
After wearing CGM on baseline, participants will be provided with breakfast B on two consecutive days in a whoe 14-day monitoring period. The appearance of breakfast B is pseudorandom. Breakfast B contains plain oats (70g) and milk powder (25g). Since lunch and dinner would serve as wash-out meals, participants will be free to choose food but provide a record of their diets.
75 g pure glucose with 300 mL water per time per person is applied. In the following 3 hours, participants are advised to rest in a seated position, avoiding unnecessary walking or exercise. Energy-giving food items were still prohibited within this interval.
Sponsors
Sun Yat-sen University
Westlake University
Study design
Allocation
RANDOMIZED
Intervention model
CROSSOVER
Primary purpose
OTHER
Masking
NONE
Eligibility
Sex/Gender
ALL
Age
45 Years to No maximum
Healthy volunteers
Yes
Inclusion criteria
Participants from the Guangzhou Nutrition and Health Study, lived in Guangzhou, China, and aged 45 years or older;
Exclusion criteria
Metal implants and other contraindications for magnetic resonance imaging scanning
Design outcomes
Primary
| Measure | Time frame | Description |
|---|---|---|
| Continuous blood glucose profile over 2 weeks | at enrollment | Glucose levels were measured by a continuous glucose monitor over 2 weeks. |
| Brain images | at enrollment | Brain structure and function were measured by brain magnetic resonance imaging (MRI). |
Secondary
| Measure | Time frame | Description |
|---|---|---|
| Cognitive scores | at enrollment | Cognitive function was measured by the Addenbrooke's Cognitive Examination-Revised (ACE-R). The original 26 components were combined to produce five subscores, 100 in total. The cutoff for dementia is 82-88/100. |
| Incidence of Alzheimer's disease (AD) | 6 and 10 years after enrollment | New cases of AD will be diagnosed by neurological clinician according to the Chinese guideline for the diagnosis and treatment of Alzheimer's disease dementia(2020). |
| Structure of gut microbiome profile | At enrollment | Gut microbiome profile for each participant is measured by metagenome and ITS2 sequencing. |
Countries
China
Outcome results
None listed