Literature review suggests that polyphenols in particular flavonoids, are beneficial for mental health during aging process. This review examines the effect of consumption of all polyphenols groups on mental health and cognitive status during aging process. The keywords searched were “mental health,” “depression,” “anxiety,” “stress” and “cognitive” combined with “dietary,” and “polyphenols.” The databases including PubMed, Web of Science and CAB Abstracts were searched for a period of 10 years. A total of 11 studies were identifi ed to fulfi ll the inclusion criteria. From this review, polyphenols may confer beneficial effects towards mental health, in particular the decline in cognitive functions during aging process, however, some studies showed contradictory results. Polyphenols have been proven to improve language and verbal ability, which is among the main vulnerable aspects in cognitive decline in pathological brain aging. In contrast, polyphenols intake did not seem to affect executive functioning. The effects of polyphenols towards cognitive status were more prominent among the elderly as compared to young and middle-aged adults. This review also shows that flavonoids is the main type of polyphenols that confer positive effects towards cognitive status during aging. This review provides evidence that consumption of polyphenols may lead to cognitive and mental health benefits. Further clinical trials involving human subjects are required with carefully designed methodology to elucidate the potential mechanisms underlying the relationship between polyphenols consumption and improvement in cognitive and mental health status.
To compare the ability of methods based on skeletal muscle index (SMI) and another one by the European Working Group
on Sarcopenia in Older People (EWGSOP) based on both muscle mass and physical function in identifying older adults
with sarcopenia. Anthropometric measurements and physical performance (hand grip strength and gait speed) were
performed. In order to determine the value of SMI, body impedance analysis was also carried out. A total of 426 older
adults, mostly women (60.8%) with mean age of 68.4 ± 6.2 years participated in this study. Methods based on SMI and
EWGSOP identified 50.5% and 32.2% older adults as sarcopenic respectively. Method based on SMI showed a significantly
higher percentage of men (70.7%) were sarcopenic as compared to women (37.5%) (p < 0.05). No such difference was
noted for EWGSOP method, with 28.7% of men were sarcopenic as compared to women (34.4%). Binary logistic regression
indicated that aged 75 years and above (adjusted odds ratio: 3.3, 95% confidence interval: 1.9 – 5.6) and having arthritis
(adjusted odds ratio: 2.5, confidence interval: 1.3 – 4.7) to be associated with sarcopenia as assessed using method
recommended by EWGSOP. The lower prevalence of sarcopenia by EWGSOP as compared to SMI may be due to the more
comprehensive method by EWGSOP. Further research regarding validation of these two screening methods against a gold
standard of screening for sarcopenia is needed in order to identify the best method..