Blackmores Institute

New Japanese research has found that following daily ingestion of collagen over a four-week period, there were significant changes in the participants’ brain structure and improved cognitive function.
 
 Thirty healthy participants aged 49 -63 years were enrolled in the study and took 5g of collagen hydrolysates (CH) derived from porcine gelatin with any type of drink at any time of the day. MRI scans were taken before the study and at week four to determine any structural changes in the brain using gray matter volume (GM-BHQ) and fractional anisotropy (FA-BHQ) scores and a word list memory (WML) test and a standard verbal paired associate learning (S-PA) test was used to assess cognitive function.
 
 CH ingestion resulted in significant improvements in FA-BHQ (p = 0.0095), as well in scores for the WLM (p = 0.0046) and S-PA (p = 0.0007) tests.
 
 “The results suggested that FA-BHQ, which reflects brain structure, and word list memory test and S-PA test scores, which reflect cognitive function, were improved by the ingestion of CH,” the authors said.
 
 “It is now widely accepted that the state of the brain is shown by the cytoarchitecture of the gray matter (GM) and white matter (WM). Dendritic expanses and increases in neuronal synapses are signs of good brain health, and it is thought that these result in high plasticity of the synapses in the GM and so are indicators of flexibility in future learning,” the researchers explained.
 
 “Several studies have investigated the effects of CH on the brain. It has been reported that the ingestion of CH may help recovery from brain injury by promoting angiogenesis, and that CH exerts neuroprotective action by suppressing inflammatory effects.
 
 “However, potential beneficial effects on structural changes in the human brain have not previously been reported. It is possible that the ingestion of CH may change brain structure and improve cognitive function, potentially helping patients to recover from brain damage.”
 
 Although the underlying mechanism for this beneficial effect is unknown, the authors suggest that similar findings in animals indicate that ingestion of CH might contribute to change of brain structure and improvements in language cognitive function through up regulation of brain-derived neurotrophic factor expression in the brain.
 
 “Future studies are planned to conduct a placebo-controlled, double-blind clinical trial on the effect of CH and to determine the correlations between S-PA and WLM test scores and brain structure. Additional studies are needed to elucidate the mechanism underlying the beneficial effects of CH on brain health,” the authors concluded.
 
 Source:
 Nutrients. 2020. DOI:<a href="https://www.mdpi.com/2072-6643/12/1/50">10.3390/nu12010050</a>

Having your collagen-rich bone broth may not only tantalise your taste buds but could also be benefitting your brain.

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