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Dietary flavanols restore hippocampal-dependent memory in older adults with lower diet quality and habitual flavanol consumption

The results from COSMOS-Web, an independent trial under the umbrella of the COSMOS trial, have been published. COSMOS-Web showed that flavanols work to maintain hippocampal memory and cognitive performance during normal cognitive aging. 

COSMOS-Web is a randomized, double-blind, placebo-controlled trial, studying the effects of flavanols on memory and cognitive aging at scale. The results showed that flavanols work to maintain memory and cognitive performance during normal cognitive aging. 

The trial was conceived and led by researchers at Columbia University. Researchers at the University of Reading and Mars Edge are co-authors on the paper. Dr Hagen Schroeter, Chief Science Officer at Mars Edge, and Dr Javier Ottaviani, Director of the Core Laboratory of Mars Edge contributed to the study methodology, including the development of a biomarker analysis tool for dietary flavanol intake.

“The urine biomarker is a substance created by the body following consumption of flavanols – measuring it enabled researchers for the first time to assess flavanol intake accurately and objectively, and without the need for food diaries. The biomarker was identified and validated in a multi-year collaboration between Mars Edge and its academic partners and published in a series of scientific papers. Mars Edge is proud to have provided a novel tool that allowed COSMOS-Web researchers to investigate at scale and in detail the link between flavanol intake and age-related memory.” – Dr. Hagen Schroeter, Chief Science Officer at Mars Edge

Over 1300 participants provided urine samples that allowed for the use of the novel biomarker to measure each person’s objective flavanol intake. This meant that the relationship between habitual flavanol consumption and memory performance could be investigated at scale and in a precise way for the 1st time.  

COSMOS-Web is an ancillary study to the COSMOS parent trial. It was in part funded by an investigator-initiated grant from Mars Edge, the National Institutes for Health, and the Nathanial Wharton Fund.

To read more about the results of COSMOS-Web, view the press release issued by Columbia University.
 

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