Nutrition and Nutraceuticals in Neuroinflammatory and Brain Metabolic Stress: Implications for Neurodegenerative Disorders

Abstract

A steep rise in the incidences of neurodegenerative disorders could be the combined effect of several non-genetic factors such as increased life expectancy, environmental pollutants, lifestyle, and dietary habits, as the population-level genetic change would require multiple generations. Emerging evidence demonstrates that chronic over-nutrition induces brain metabolic stress and neuroinflammation, and both are individually known to promote neurodegenerative disorders including Alzheimer's disease (AD), Parkinson's disease (PD) and Huntington's disease (HD). Although the association of metabolic disorders such as diabetes, hypertension, dyslipidemia, and atherosclerosis with the dietary habits is well known, the understanding of neuronal implications of diet and nutritional supplements is still in the infancy. Transcriptomics and proteomics-based studies support the view that nutraceuticals target multiple neuroprotective pathways in a slow but more physiological manner without causing severe adverse effects, and may represent the future of tackling neurodegenerative disorders. In this article, i) we review the diet/dietary supplement connection with the brain metabolic stress and neuroinflammation and ii) summarize the current advancements on the effects of nutraceuticals on the neurodegenerative disorders.