Effect of Cashew Apple Juice on the Physiological and Psychological Fitness in the Middle Aged and Elderly Volunteers
Condition: Healthy
Study type: Interventional
Phase: Phase 1

Summary: 
      Cashew or Anacardium occidentale L. is a plant in a family of Anacardiaceae. The fruit of
      cashew or cashew apple may be consumed fresh, but contains high quantities of tannins
      yielding a bitter taste and dry mouth feel. Therefore, it is more often prepared as beverage.
      It is rich in carbohydrate and vitamin C. It is also claimed for numerous ailments including
      antitumor, antimicrobial, urease inhibitory and lipoxygenase activity. In addition, cashew
      apple juice also has excellent anti-oxidant potential. The preclinical data also demonstrated
      that cognitive deficit rats induced by cholinotoxin which received A.occidentale or cashew
      fruit juice for 2 weeks showed the neuroprotective and cognitive enhancing effects.Therefore,
      the potential benefit of Cashew apple juice on physical fitness and psychological fitness of
      the middle aged and elderly is focused.
    

Detailed description: 
      Currently, the age-related health problems are increasing their importance markedly due to
      the increased elderly population. These problems produce the great socio-economic burdens of
      country. In addition, the quality of both the elderly and their families are also decreased.
      Therefore, the anti-aging strategy for the elderly has gained much attention. Based on the
      role of oxidative stresses and free radicals on the age-related pathology, the development of
      anti-aging health products from substances possessing antioxidant effect has been focused.

      Cashew or Anacardium occidentale Linn, one of the economic plants in Thailand, is originated
      from Latin America and possesses antioxidant effect. In Latin America, this plant is used as
      anti-aging and memory enhancer. Data obtained from animal study also showed that cashew apple
      juice could enhance memory and increased muscle performance and induced fatigue resistance.
      Therefore, cashew apple has the potential to be developed as the physical and psychological
      fitness enhancer heath product for the elderly. However, no scientific data are available
      until now. Therefore, this study aimed to develop the cashew apple juice based functional
      drink and to determine the effect of 12- week consumption of cashew apple juice on physical
      and psychological fitness of the middle aged and elderly volunteers. The consumption safety
      of the developed drink was also investigated.

      The developed cashew apple juice based functional drink showed antioxidant and
      acetylcholinesterase suppression activities. Therefore, it was used for the investigation the
      effect of 12- week consumption of cashew apple juice on physical and psychological fitness of
      the middle aged and elderly volunteers. In this study, the healthy middle aged and elderly
      volunteers who were recruited to participate in this study were divided in to various groups
      consisting of placebo and the Cashew drink treated groups at doses of 120 and 240 mg/day. All
      subjects had to consume the assigned drinks for 12 weeks. They were determined the parameters
      related to physical and psychological fitness before treatment and every 4 weeks throughout
      the study period. The assessments were also performed at 4 week after the cessation of cashew
      apple juice based drink consumption. The physical fitness assessment was performed via the
      battery test consisting of various tests including 30-second chair stand test which measured
      the muscle strength of the lower extremities, hand grip strength test which measured the
      muscle strength of hand, 6-minute walk test which measured cardio-pulmonary endurance and
      Tandem test which measured postural balance. The alteration of oxidative stress markers
      including the malondialdehyde level and the activities of superoxide dismutase (SOD),
      catalase (CAT) and glutathione peroxidase (GSH-Px) in blood was also motored. The results
      showed that the volunteers who consumed cashew apple juice based drink at dose of 240 mg/day
      improved the performance in 30-second chair stand test and 6-minute walk test at 12 weeks of
      consumption period. The enhanced GSH-Px activity and the decreased MDA level were also
      observed. Therefore, the data obtained from this study demonstrated the increased muscle
      strength of the lower extremities and the cardio-pulmonary endurance of the middle-aged and
      elderly volunteers. The possible underlying mechanism might occur partly via the improved
      oxidative stress status.

      In order to evaluate the psychological fitness, the working memory was assessed using
      computerized battery test while the attention and cognitive processing were assessed via
      event related potential. Emotion was assessed via Bond-Läder test whereas psychological
      symptoms were evaluated by symptoms checklist-90 (SCL-90). In addition, the functions of
      cholinergic and monoaminergic system especially dopamine were also evaluated using the
      activities of acetylcholinesterase (AChE), monoamine oxidase (MAO B) as indices respectively.
      The assessments were performed at the same time schedules as the physical assessment. The
      results showed that the subjects who consumed cashew apple juice based drink at dose of 240
      mg/day showed the following changes; 1) working memory was improves in all domains including
      the increased power of attention, the increase continuity of attention, the speed of memory
      and the quality of memory 2) the decreased latency but increased amplitude of N100 and P300
      3) the suppression of AChE and MAO-B. Therefore, the current data revealed that the
      volunteers who consumed the cashew apple juice based drink at dose of 240 mg/day enhance
      attention and cognitive processing ability giving rise to the improved working memory. The
      possible underlying mechanism might occur partly via the improved cholinergic and
      dopaminergic functions.

      When the quality of life was determined by using Quest quality questionnaire which modified
      from SF-36 at the end of study, the results showed that volunteers who consumed cashew apple
      juice based drink showed the higher quality of life than the volunteer who consumed placebo.
      These suggested that the cashew apple juice based drink improved both physical and
      psychological fitness and quality of life of the middle-aged and elderly volunteers.

      In order to assure the consumption safety of the consumers, the assessments of hematological
      and chemical changes of the volunteers were also performed. The results showed that no
      toxicity was observed throughout the study period. The results obtained from this study
      demonstrated that the cashew apple juice based drink improved physical and psychological
      fitness together with the quality of life without toxicity. Therefore, the developed cashew
      apple juice based drink has the potential to be served as the functional drink in order to
      enhance physical and psychological fitness for the middle-aged and elderly.
    

Intervention name(s): placebo; cashew apple juice; cashew apple juice
Intervention type(s): Other; Other; Other
Intervention description(s): Subject receive the Placebo product (placebo group had same color and smell of treatment groups); Subject received the cashew apple juice at dose of 120 mg/day after meal; Subject received the cashew apple juice at dose of 240 mg/day after meal
Allocation: Randomized
Intervention model: Parallel Assignment
Masking: Double (Participant, Investigator)
Keywords: cognitive; memory; physical fitness; psychological fitness; elderly; middle aged