Table 3.
Observational studies addressing the relationship between lutein and zeaxanthin status and cognitive function in a pediatric population.
| Author | Year | Age | n | Key Findings |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Mahmassani [81] | 2021 | Pregnancy I trimester (median 9.9 WG) Pregnancy II trimester (median 27.9 WG) Infancy (5.2–10.0 months) Early-Childhood (2.8–6.2 years) Mid-Childhood (6.6–10.9 years) |
1580 mother-child pairs | Greater maternal L/Z intakes in the I-II trimester were associated with better verbal intelligence (main analysis) and better behavior regulation ability (secondary analyses) in mid-childhood. Higher maternal I trimester intake of L/Z-rich foods was associated with better social-emotional development and behavioral regulation ability in this same age group. No benefits of greater maternal L/Z intakes were observed in infancy and early childhood |
| Saint [124] | 2018 | 7–13 years | 51 | Link between higher carotenoid status and improved cognitive functioning. MPOD was significantly correlated to global Intelligence (Brief Intellectual Ability) and executive processes composite scores. Exploratory analysis also showed positive associations with spatial relations subtest. |
| Barnett [83] | 2018 | 8–9 years old | 56 | MPOD is positively related to academic achievement, mathematics, and written language composite standard scores in school children. |
| Walk [123] | 2017 | 8–10 years | 49 | MPOD is correlated (p < 0.05) with cognitive control performance. Children with higher MPOD present higher accuracy in performing tasks which require cognitive control processing (modified flanker task) and require the allocation of less attentional resources to perform the task (smaller P3 amplitudes in the EEG recordings). |
| Hassevoort [122] | 2017 | 7–10 years | 40 | MPOD is positively associated with a spatial reconstruction task designed to assess relational memory performance, a hippocampal-dependent function, even after accounting for IQ and aerobic fitness. |
| Cheatham [82] | 2015 | 6 month-old | 55 | High L & High Choline in maternal breast milk are associated with better infant recognition memory (difference in latency to peak amplitude scores at frontal and central areas in EEG recordings (p < 0.05 and p < 0.001; respectively) |
| Mulder [121] | 2014 | 5.6–5.9 years | 160 | L intake and L serum levels showed no association with child cognitive tests. |
Abbreviations: L, Lutein; Z, zeaxanthin; MPOD, Macular Pigment Optical Density; EEG, electroencephalography; IQ, Intelligence Quotient.