SynthesisNeuropsychology review2020
Fuel for Thought? A Systematic Review of Neuroimaging Studies into Glucose Enhancement of Cognitive Performance.
Synthesis in Neuropsychology review, 2020. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 9 papers, 2 of them syntheses that pooled it.
What it found
Each row is one number read from the abstract, on the scale the paper reported it, with its interval. Left of the dashed line favours the treatment, right favours the comparator. Under each row is the sentence it came from. New to these charts? A ten-minute tutorial.
The abstract states no effect estimate the extractor could read, or names no intervention and outcome on the map, so this paper lights no cell and moves no belief. It is still indexed, cited and linked below.
The trial behind it
Trials whose registry record cites this paper, or whose number appears in the abstract. A trial that started after this paper was published is citing it as background, not reporting it.
Neither the registry nor the abstract names a trial number. If this is a trial report, that itself is worth knowing.
Who cites it
9 citing papers in PubMed, 2 syntheses or guidelines pooled it, 18 citations in OpenAlex.
- The oral und systemic health risks of sugar consumption: an umbrella review.Clinical oral investigations · 2026Pooled it
- The Impact of Free and Added Sugars on Cognitive Function: A Systematic Review and Meta-Analysis.Nutrients · 2023Pooled it
- Glucoregulatory status modulates acute cognitive effects of repeated low-glycaemic snack consumption in older adults: a decentralized randomized controlled trial.European journal of nutrition · 2025Trial
- Neuroprotective Effects of Ethiopian Coffee Beans against Hyperglycemia-induced Brain Injury in Rats.Food science & nutrition · 2026Article
- Effects of Glucose Tablet Candy Ingestion on Attention Following Smartphone Use in Healthy Adults: A Randomized, Double-Blind, Placebo-Controlled Crossover Trial.Foods (Basel, Switzerland) · 2025Article
- Testing the causal relationship of fat and sugar intake with depression and cortisol: a Mendelian Randomisation study.Translational psychiatry · 2024Article
- The Implication of Physiological Ketosis on The Cognitive Brain: A Narrative Review.Nutrients · 2022Review
- Goals in Nutrition Science 2020-2025.Frontiers in nutrition · 2020Review
- Fasting and Cognitive Load-Related Changes in Quantitative EEG Measures During an N-Back Task.International journal of psychological researchArticle
Corrections and comments
PubMed lists nothing against this paper. Absence here is not a guarantee, only a check that was made.
Authors and funding
4 authors at 1 institution in 1 country.
Funding
No grant is acknowledged in the PubMed record.
Abstract
A transient improvement in cognitive performance can be observed following the ingestion of a glucose drink, a phenomenon known as the 'glucose facilitation effect'. The effect has been studied thoroughly in the last three decades, but its neural underpinnings remain a matter of speculation. A systematic review was conducted to evaluate the current evidence from studies applying neuroimaging or neurophysiological methods to investigate the glucose enhancement effect. Eleven studies met the inclusion criteria of using neuroimaging in conjunction with cognitive outcomes. Six studies employed electroencephalography (EEG), four used functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) and one employed functional near-infrared spectroscopy (fNIRS). All but one study reported modulation of neurophysiology or neuroimaging markers following glucose, while only five studies reported significant changes in cognitive outcomes. The evidence suggests that glucose administration enhances neurocognitive markers of episodic memory and attentional processes underpinned by medial temporal and frontal activation, sometimes in the absence of measurable behavioural effects. Further exploration of glucose facilitation using neuroimaging measures with increased sample sizes is warranted to replicate these findings.
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Identifiers
What OpenQuestion holds
Registered trials
Read under generation 80e0d062 · epoch 390. Bibliography from PubMed, PubMed Central and OpenAlex; grants from NIH RePORTER; trial links from ClinicalTrials.gov; estimates, votes and beliefs from the OpenQuestion graph.