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Dietary protein source at breakfast influences subsequent learning and memory performance
Author(s) -
Du Kristy,
Dailey Megan J,
Rhodes Justin S,
Beverly J. Lee
Publication year - 2016
Publication title -
the faseb journal
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 1.709
H-Index - 277
eISSN - 1530-6860
pISSN - 0892-6638
DOI - 10.1096/fasebj.30.1_supplement.909.5
Subject(s) - meal , barnes maze , food science , biology , zoology , medicine , spatial learning , endocrinology , hippocampus
The rapid growth and development of the brains of children and adolescents make them more reliant on regular intake of nutrients and more susceptible to impairments of cognitive performance if the first meal of the day is skipped. Additionally, it is important to understand how breakfast components can be manipulated to maximize benefits from the breakfast meal. Dietary protein provides amino acid precursors to neurotransmitter that may potentially modulate brain function. However, studies looking at the impact of breakfast on subsequent cognitive performance have given limited attention to the protein source of the breakfast meal. The objective of this study was to determine the influence of protein level and protein composition at breakfast on spatial learning and memory performance. Male Sprague‐Dawley rats (6 weeks old) were entrained to a meal‐feeding schedule consisting of a 30 min meal, equivalent to 20% of average daily intake, one hour into the dark phase then ad libitum access to food the last 5 hours of the dark phase. Rats were divided into one of four treatment groups in which the first meal of the day was manipulated: Egg white (EW) providing 35% energy from protein; Wheat gluten (WG) providing 35% energy from protein, Basal diet providing 20% energy from protein containing equal amounts of EW and WG proteins, or ‘no breakfast’. Shortly following the testing meal period, rats were evaluated for spatial learning and memory performance in the Barnes maze. Rats provided ‘ no breakfast’ were less active and displayed compromised short‐term recall compared to rats fed Basal diet (P<0.05). The higher dietary protein meals (35% energy from protein) resulted in improved learning, with the EW group exhibiting significantly faster learning (P<0.05) and improved short‐term recall in comparison to rats fed the WG diet (P<0.05). Together, these results suggest that EW protein as a part of the breakfast meal may enhance cognitive performance in comparison to WG diet. This highlights the importance of the protein component at breakfast on cognitive performance. Support or Funding Information Various donors