Greater resting state functional connectivity of the medial prefrontal cortex with the thalamus, caudate, and putamen in individuals who adhere to the Mediterranean style diets

Paul Faulkner; Paul Allen; Adele Costabile; Marieke H Schoemaker; Florencia Imakulata; Piril Hepsomali

doi:10.1007/s00394-024-03548-y

Greater resting state functional connectivity of the medial prefrontal cortex with the thalamus, caudate, and putamen in individuals who adhere to the Mediterranean style diets

Eur J Nutr. 2024 Nov 28;64(1):34. doi: 10.1007/s00394-024-03548-y.

Authors

Paul Faulkner¹, Paul Allen², Adele Costabile³, Marieke H Schoemaker⁴, Florencia Imakulata¹, Piril Hepsomali⁵

Affiliations

¹ School of Psychology, University of Roehampton, London, SW155 4JD, UK.
² Department of Neuroimaging, Institute of Psychology and Neuroscience, Kings College London, London, UK.
³ School of Life and Health Sciences, University of Roehampton, London, SW155 4JD, UK.
⁴ FrieslandCampina, Amersfoort, the Netherlands.
⁵ School of Psychology and Clinical Language Sciences, University of Reading, Reading, RG6 6ET, UK. p.hepsomali@reading.ac.uk.

Abstract

Purpose: Healthy diets are believed to be associated with a reduced risk of experiencing common mental disorders (CMDs) and related symptomatology (such as ruminative thinking), and with healthier brain chemistry and structure, especially in the frontal regions implicated in CMDs, cognitive control, and food choice. Nevertheless, there is very limited research on the relationship between diet health/quality and brain function. In this study we assessed the associations between adherence to the Mediterranean diet and resting state functional connectivity (rs-FC) of the prefrontal cortex (PFC) with the whole brain and whether this connectivity would be associated with ruminative thinking as a transdiagnostic factor for CMDs.

Methods: Thirty-seven adults (Mean Age = 25.57, SD = 7.18) completed the Mediterranean Diet Adherence Screener (MEDAS) and were classified into high- and low-quality diet groups and completed the Ruminative Response Scale. All participants underwent resting-state functional MRI (fMRI) to determine whole-brain rs-FC of the medial prefrontal cortex (mPFC).

Results: Participants in the high MEDAS group (vs. low MEDAS group) exhibited significantly greater rs-FC of the mPFC seed with the thalamus, caudate and putamen. Additionally, the strength of rs-FC of the mPFC seed with these regions was positively associated with the MEDAS scores across groups in both crude and adjusted models. There were no significant associations between the strength of rs-FC of the mPFC seed with the cluster of voxels with the thalamus, caudate, and putamen and ruminative thinking.

Discussion: This work shows that healthy dietary patterns are associated with rs-FC in the frontal-subcortical circuitry in healthy volunteers. Considering the implications of the dysregulation of this circuity, adhering to healthy dietary patterns may offer a promising alternative/complementary method to improve CMDs, cognitive control, and food choices.

Keywords: Caudate; Diet quality; Mediterranean diet; Prefrontal cortex; Putamen; Thalamus.

MeSH terms

Adult
Caudate Nucleus / physiology
Caudate Nucleus / physiopathology
Diet, Mediterranean* / statistics & numerical data
Female
Humans
Magnetic Resonance Imaging* / methods
Male
Prefrontal Cortex* / physiology
Prefrontal Cortex* / physiopathology
Putamen / diagnostic imaging
Putamen / physiology
Putamen / physiopathology
Thalamus / diagnostic imaging
Thalamus / physiology
Young Adult

Grants and funding

3129AQ00/FrieslandCampina