2022 Fiscal Year Final Research Report

Maintenance and recovery of higher brain function by chewing behavior change in elderly

Research Project

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Project/Area Number	20H03877
Research Category	Grant-in-Aid for Scientific Research (B)
Allocation Type	Single-year Grants
Section	一般
Review Section	Basic Section 57050:Prosthodontics-related
Research Institution	Osaka Dental University (2022) Niigata University (2020-2021)
Principal Investigator	Ono Takahiro 大阪歯科大学, 歯学部, 教授 (30204241)
Co-Investigator(Kenkyū-buntansha)	小野弓絵明治大学, 理工学部, 専任教授 (10360207) 長谷川陽子新潟大学, 医歯学総合病院, 講師 (60432457) 堀一浩新潟大学, 医歯学系, 准教授 (70379080) 山村健介新潟大学, 医歯学系, 教授 (90272822) 村上和裕新潟大学, 医歯学系, 助教 (60804490)
Project Period (FY)	2020-04-01 – 2023-03-31
Keywords	高次脳機能 / 咀嚼 / 行動変容 / 超高齢社会 / 認知症 / ウエアラブルデバイス
Outline of Final Research Achievements	In order to make new proposals for dementia prevention, which is a national issue, the purpose of this research is to verify the question, "Isn't chewing well in daily life advantageous for maintaining and improving higher brain activity?". The subjects were young adults and older adults. Each age group was divided into two groups, a group that underwent a chewing behavior modification intervention using a mastication number counter and a control group. Comparisons were made on the changes in cognitive function test achievement and cerebral activity during tasks between groups. As a result, although there was no intervention effect on the performance of cognitive function test, the intervention group showed an increase in cortical activity such as the prefrontal cortex in proportion to the increase in the number of mastications.
Free Research Field	歯科補綴学
Academic Significance and Societal Importance of the Research Achievements	先行研究において、咀嚼により認知機能に関連する海馬や論理的思考に関連する前頭前野の血流が増加すること、高齢者は若年者と比較して咀嚼による血流変化が大きい事が示され（Onozuka M, et al., 2008) 、申請者らも経頭蓋超音波ドプラ法を用いて咀嚼時において脳循環が有意に亢進することを報告してきた（Hasegawa Y, et al., 2007）。本研究の結果より、日常的に「よく噛む」という行動が認知機能に関わる大脳皮質活動の向上に寄与するとすれば、高齢者の認知機能低下予防の手段として簡便かつ有益なものとなる可能性が示唆される。