HDHL-Biomarkers: VALID, Valerolactones and healthy Ageing: Linking diet, biomarkers and metabolic health with cognition in older adults

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Globally, populations are ageing; by 2050 it is estimated that more than 2 billion people will be aged over 60 years. This will be accompanied by an increase in cognitive dysfunction which ranges from mild cognitive impairment to dementia. Certain dietary patterns or nutritional components may have a beneficial role, thus offering potential strategies to prevent or delay the onset of cognitive dysfunction in ageing. (Poly)phenols are one such category, but linking these to cognition and other health outcomes is difficult because they appear in the blood for only a brief period of time (2-4 hours) after consumption of fruits and vegetables, which then limits the development of good blood based biomarkers of dietary consumption as a result. Our study will address this problem; procyanidins commonly found in foods such as tea, cocoa, grapes, nuts and berries, are of specific interest among (poly)phenols, and are almost exclusively broken down by gut bacteria to phenolic acids and valerolactones. These valerolactones are thought to be beneficial to health and have the added advantage that they remain in the blood for longer periods of time (up to 48 hours), thus offering new blood based biomarker(s) to detect dietary consumption of foods such as tea, cocoa, grapes, nuts and berries. In our project we aim to validate gamma-valerolactones as stable blood biomarkers of foods such as tea, cocoa, grapes, nuts and berries and demonstrate their association with markers of inflammation and metabolic health, and ultimately cognitive function, in an ageing European population. To do this, we will utilise data and perform new analysis on samples from the Trinity, Ulster, Department of Agriculture Study (TUDA) cohort study, a unique resource designed to assess nutrition and ageing in 5,186 adults aged 60-102 years recruited from the island of Ireland, and including a range of existing biomarkers, metabolic health status and cognitive measures. In this way, our project will identify and validate gamma-valerolactones as novel biomarkers that are modulated by dietary (poly)phenols and associated with favourable health outcomes in ageing.