Hostname: page-component-586b7cd67f-gb8f7 Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2024-11-30T20:46:24.520Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false

Disorders of “taste cognition” are associated with insular involvement in patients with Alzheimer's disease and vascular dementia: “Memory of food is impaired in dementia and responsible for poor diet”

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  03 April 2014

Teiko Suto
Affiliation:
Division of Geriatric Behavioral Neurology, CYRIC, Tohoku University, Sendai, Japan
Kenichi Meguro*
Affiliation:
Division of Geriatric Behavioral Neurology, CYRIC, Tohoku University, Sendai, Japan
Masahiro Nakatsuka
Affiliation:
Division of Geriatric Behavioral Neurology, CYRIC, Tohoku University, Sendai, Japan
Yuriko Kato
Affiliation:
Division of Geriatric Behavioral Neurology, CYRIC, Tohoku University, Sendai, Japan
Kimihiro Tezuka
Affiliation:
Division of Geriatric Behavioral Neurology, CYRIC, Tohoku University, Sendai, Japan
Satoshi Yamaguchi
Affiliation:
Division of Geriatric Behavioral Neurology, CYRIC, Tohoku University, Sendai, Japan
Manabu Tashiro
Affiliation:
Division of Nuclear Medicine, CYRIC, Tohoku University, Sendai, Japan
*
Correspondence should be addressed to: Professor Kenichi Meguro, Division of Geriatric Behavioral Neurology, CYRIC, Tohoku University, 2-1 Seiryo-machi, Aoba-ku, Sendai 980-8575, Japan. Phone: +81-22-7177359; Fax: +81-22-7177339. Email: [email protected].

Abstract

Background:

In dementia patients, dietary intake problems may occur despite the absence of swallowing problems. We investigated cognitive functions on food and taste in Alzheimer's disease (AD) and vascular dementia (VaD) patients.

Methods:

Participants included 15 healthy controls (HC), 30 AD and 20 VaD patients. Food Cognition Test: Replicas of three popular foods in Japan with no odors were presented visually to each participant, with the instruction to respond with the name of each food. Replicas of food materials were subsequently presented to ask whether they were included in these foods. Taste Cognition Test: Replicas of 12 kinds of foods were presented to describe their expected tastes.

Results:

The AD/VaD groups exhibited significantly lower scores on Food/Taste Cognition Tests compared with the HC group. These scores correlated inversely with Mini-Mental State Examination (MMSE) scores in the AD group. Decreased dietary intake was observed in 12 of the 50 patients; 8 of the 12 exhibited decreased Taste Cognition Test scores, higher than that of the normal-intake patients. There was no difference in the filter paper taste disc test between HC/AD/VaD groups. To test the hypothesis that the insula is associated with taste cognition, two MMSE-matched AD subgroups (n = 10 vs. 10) underwent positron emission tomography. Glucose metabolism in the right insula was lower in the low taste cognition subgroup. The VaD patients with insular lesions exhibited impaired Taste Cognition Test findings.

Conclusions:

It is important to consider the cognitive aspect of dietary intake when we care for dementia patients.

Type
Research Article
Copyright
Copyright © International Psychogeriatric Association 2014 

Access options

Get access to the full version of this content by using one of the access options below. (Log in options will check for institutional or personal access. Content may require purchase if you do not have access.)

References

Baier, B. and Karnath, H. O. (2008). Tight link between our sense of limb ownership and self-awareness of actions. Stroke, 39, 486488.Google Scholar
Binder, J. R. and Desai, R. H. (2011). The neurobiology of semantic memory. Trends in Cognitive Science, 15, 527536.Google Scholar
Damasio, A. R. (1994). Descartes’ Error: Emotion, Reason, and the Human Brain. New York, NY: Putnam.Google Scholar
Damasio, A. R., Grabowski, T. J., Bechara, A., Damasio, H., Ponto, L. L. B. and Parvizi, J. (2000). Subcortical and cortical brain activity during the feeling of self-generated emotions. Nature Neuroscience, 3, 10491056.Google Scholar
Folstein, M. F., Folstein, S. E. and Mchugh, P. R. (1975). ‘Mini-Mental State’: a practical method for grading the cognitive state of patients for the clinician. Journal of Psychiatric Research, 12, 189–98.Google Scholar
Gorno-Timpi, M. L., Hillis, A. E., Weintraub, S., Kertesz, A., Mendez, M. and Cappa, S. F. (2011). Classification of primary progressive aphasia and its variants. Neurology, 76, 10061014.Google Scholar
Heckmann, J. G., Strossel, C., Lang, C. J. G., Neundorfer, B., Tomandi, B. and Hummel, T. (2005). Taste disorders in acute stroke: a prospective observational study on taste disorders in 102 stroke patients. Stroke, 36, 16901694.Google Scholar
Hoffman, P., Jones, R. W., Matthew, A. and Ralph, L. (2012). The degraded concept representation system in semantic dementia: damage to pan-modal hub, then visual spoke. Brain, 135, 37703780.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Ishii, H., Meguro, K., Yamaguchi, S., Ishikawa, H. and Yamadori, A. (2007). Prevalence and cognitive performances of vascular cognitive impairment no dementia in Japan: the Osaki-Tajiri Project. European Journal of Neurology, 14, 609616.Google Scholar
Janes, A. C., Pizzagalli, D. A., Richardt, S., deB Frederick, D. and Chuzi, S. (2010). Brain reactivity to smoking cues prior to smoking cessation predicts ability to maintain tobacco abstinence. Biological Psychiatry, 67, 722729.Google Scholar
Janus, C. et al. (2004). Impaired conditioned taste aversion learning in APP transgenic mice. Neurobiology in Aging, 25, 12131219.Google Scholar
Kato, M., Shimizu, Y. and Sugiyama, M. (2005). Nutrition Care Management in the Long-Term Care Insurance. Tokyo, Japan: Japan Society for Nutrition and Care Management (pp. 85113).Google Scholar
Kuroda, R. (2001). Soft Food for Older Adults. Tokyo, Japan: Research Institute for Health Science. ISBN 9784905690740.Google Scholar
Lee, L., Frederick, S. and Ariely, D. (2006). Try it, you’ll like it: the influence of expectation, consumption, and revelation on preferences for beer. Psychological Science, 17, 10541058.Google Scholar
Leow, L. P., Huckabee, M. L., Anderson, T. and Beckert, L. (2010). The impact of dysphagia on quality of life in ageing and Parkinson's disease as measured by the swallowing quality of life (SWAL-QOL) questionnaire. Dysphagia, 25, 216220.Google Scholar
Malik, S., McGlone, F., Bedrossian, D. and Dagher, A. (2008). Ghrelin modulates brain activity in areas that control appetitive behavior. Cell and Metabolism, 7, 400409.Google Scholar
Martinaud, O., Opolczynski, G., Gaillard, M. J. and Hannequin, D. (2009). Relevant category-specific effect on naming in Alzheimer's disease. Dementia and Geriatric Cognitive Disorders, 28, 413418.Google Scholar
McKhann, G., Drachman, D., Folstein, M., Katzman, R., Price, D. and Stadian, E. M. (1984). Clinical diagnosis of Alzheimer's disease: report of the NINCDS–ADRDA work group under the auspices of Department of Health and Human Services Task Force on Alzheimer's disease. Neurology, 34, 939944.Google Scholar
Monteiro, I. M., Boksay, I., Auer, S. R., Torossian, C., Ferris, S. H. and Reisberg, B. (2001). Addition of a frequency-weighted score to the Behavioral Pathology in Alzheimer's Disease Rating Scale: the BEHAVE-AD-FW: methodology and reliability. European Psychiatry, 16 (Suppl. 1), 5s24s.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Nakamura, Y., Tokumori, K., Tanabe, H. C., Yoshiura, T., Kobayashi, K. and Nakamura, Y. (2013). Localization of the primary taste cortex by contrasting passive and attentive conditions. Experimental Brain Research. Epublished 19 April 2013.Google Scholar
Nakatsuka, M., Meguro, K., Tsuboi, M., Nakamura, K., Akanuma, K. and Yamaguchi, S. (2013). Content of delusional thoughts in Alzheimer's disease and assessment of content-specific brain dysfunctions with BEHAVE-AD-FW and SPECT. International Psychogeriatrics, 25, 939948.Google Scholar
Phelps, M. E., Huang, S. C., Hoffman, E. J., Selin, C., Sokoloff, L. and Kuhl, D. E. (1979). Tomographic measurement of local cerebral glucose metabolic rate in humans with (F-18)2-fluoro-2-deoxy-D-glucose. Annals of Neurology, 6, 371388.Google Scholar
Pobric, G., Jefferies, E. and Lambon Ralph, M. A. (2010). Amodal semantic representations depend on both anterior temporal lobes: evidence from repetitive transcranial magnetic stimulation. Neuropsychologia, 20, 964968.Google Scholar
Rogers, T. T., Lambon Ralph, M. A., Garrard, P., Bozeat, S., McClelland, J. L. and Hodges, J. R. (2004). Structure and deterioration of semantic memory: a neuropsychological and computational investigation. Psychological Review, 111, 205235.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Roman, G. C., Tatemichi, T. K., Erkinjuntti, T., Cummings, J. L., Masdeu, J. C. and Garcia, J. H. (1993). Vascular dementia: diagnostic criteria for research studies: report of the NINCDS–AIREN international workshop. Neurology, 43, 250260.Google Scholar
Simons, W. K., Martin, A. and Barsalou, L. W. (2005). Pictures of appetizing foods activate gustatory cortices for taste and reward. Cerebral Cortex, 15, 16021608.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Steinbach, S., Hund, W., Vaitl, A., Heinrich, P., Foster, S. and Burger, K. (2010). Taste in mild cognitive impairment and Alzheimer's disease. Journal of Neurology, 257, 238246.Google Scholar
Stevenson, R. J., Miller, L. A. and McGrillen, K. (2013). The lateralization of gustatory function and the flow of information from tongue to cortex. Neuropsychologia, http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.neuropsychologia.2013.01.010.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Tomita, H. (1986). Basis and practice of clinical taste examinations. Auris Nasus Larynx, 13, 115.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Von Skramlik Schwarz, G. (1956). Uber die sinnlichen Wirkungen von Geschmackslosungen in der Mundhohle. Journal of Biology [Germany], 111, 99127.Google Scholar
Wakita, K., Imahori, Y. and Ido, T. (2000). Simplification for measuring input function of FDG PET: investigation of 1-point blood sampling method. Journal of Nuclear Medicine, 41, 14841490.Google Scholar
Woolley, J. D., Gorno-Tempini, M. L., Seeley, W. W., Rankin, K., Lee, S. S. and Matthews, B. R. (2007). Binge eating is associated with right orbitofrontal-insular-striatal atrophy in frontotemporal dementia. Neurology, 69, 14241433.Google Scholar