SMARTAGE: Influence of spermidine-rich dietary supplements on cognitive abilities and other biomarkers in elderly people with subjective cognitive decline (SCD)

Study Description:
Previous data has suggested that certain food ingredients might have a direct effect on mental abilities and the function of nerve cells. The SmartAge study looks at the effect of 12 months of intervention with spermidine-based nutritional supplementation on the cognitive abilities of older people with SCD, focusing primarily on learning, memory, and peripheral biomarkers (e.g. blood parameters, structural and functional brain parameters, and vascular processes). Spermidine belongs to the group of polyamines which are important endogenous products of cell metabolism, and their concentration in humans have been found to decrease with age. The SmartAge study is a monocentric, randomized, double-blind, placebo-controlled phase IIb trial (https://clinicaltrials.gov/ct2/show/NCT03094546).

This study is being done in cooperation with others such as the Institute of Biology/Genetics of the Free University of Berlin (Prof. Stephan Sigrist).

Principle Investigators: Prof. Dietmar Schmitz (NCRC) & Prof. Agnes Flöel (Neurology University of Greifswald)

Study coordinator: Claudia Schwarz (AG Cognitive Neurology, NCRC, Neurology CCM)

Registration: This study is registered in the database clinicaltrials.gov (NCT03094546)

Course of the study: 01/2017-02/2020

Publications:
Schwarz, C., Horn, N., Benson, G., Wrachtrup Calzado, I., Wurdack, K., Pechlaner, R., Grittner, U., Wirth, M., & Flöel, A. (2020). Spermidine intake is associated with cortical thickness and hippocampal volume in older adults. NeuroImage, 221, 117132. Link

Schwarz C, Stekovic S, Wirth M, Benson G, Royer P, Sigrist SJ, Pieber T, Dammbrueck C, Magnes C, Eisenberg T, Pendl T, Bohlken J, Köbe T, et al. Safety and tolerability of spermidine supplementation in mice and older adults with subjective cognitive decline. Aging (Albany NY). 2018; 10:19-33. Link

Wirth, M., Benson, G., Schwarz, C., Köbe, T., Grittner, U., Schmitz, D., ... & Flöel, A. (2018). The effect of spermidine on memory performance in older adults at risk for dementia: a randomized controlled trial. Cortex, 109, 181-188. Link

Wirth, M., Schwarz, C., Benson, G., Horn, N., Buchert, R., Lange, C., ... & Märschenz, S. (2019). Effects of spermidine supplementation on cognition and biomarkers in older adults with subjective cognitive decline (SmartAge)—study protocol for a randomized controlled trial. Alzheimer's research & therapy, 11(1), 36. Link