Trial reportNutrients2021
An fMRI Investigation into the Effects of Ketogenic Medium-Chain Triglycerides on Cognitive Function in Elderly Adults: A Pilot Study.
Trial report in Nutrients, 2021. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 17 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
17 citing papers in PubMed, 2 syntheses or guidelines pooled it, 27 citations in OpenAlex.
- The effect of exogenous ketone bodies on cognition across health and disease: a systematic review and meta-analysis.Frontiers in nutrition · 2026Pooled it
- Medium-chain triglycerides may improve memory in non-demented older adults: a systematic review of randomized controlled trials.BMC geriatrics · 2022Pooled it
- The Liver-brain Axis: A Three-stage Model Linking MASLD to Cognitive Impairment and Dementia.Journal of molecular neuroscience : MN · 2026Review
- Article
- Article
- The Effect of Exogenous Ketone Bodies on Cognition in Patients with Mild Cognitive Impairment, Alzheimer's Disease and in Healthy Adults: A Systematic Review and Meta-Analysis.medRxiv : the preprint server for health sciences · 2025Article
- Circulating Ketone Bodies, Pyruvate, and Citrate and Risk of Cognitive Decline, Structural Brain Abnormalities, and Dementia.Aging and disease · 2024Article
- Acute administration of ketone beta-hydroxybutyrate downregulates 7T proton magnetic resonance spectroscopy-derived levels of anterior and posterior cingulate GABA and glutamate in healthy adults.Neuropsychopharmacology : official publication of the American College of Neuropsychopharmacology · 2023Article
- Short- and long-term cognitive and metabolic effects of medium-chain triglyceride supplementation in rats.Heliyon · 2023Article
- Ketogenic effects of medium chain triglycerides containing formula and its correlation to breath acetone in healthy volunteers: a randomized, double-blinded, placebo-controlled, single dose-response study.Frontiers in nutrition · 2023Article
- Ketone bodies mediate alterations in brain energy metabolism and biomarkers of Alzheimer's disease.Frontiers in neuroscience · 2023Review
- Feeding the Brain: Effect of Nutrients on Cognition, Synaptic Function, and AMPA Receptors.Nutrients · 2022Review
- The Implication of Physiological Ketosis on The Cognitive Brain: A Narrative Review.Nutrients · 2022Review
- Ketogenic diets and Ketone suplementation: A strategy for therapeutic intervention.Frontiers in nutrition · 2022Review
- A narrative review on the effects of a ketogenic diet on patients with Alzheimer's disease.AIMS public health · 2022Review
- Supplementation of Regular Diet With Medium-Chain Triglycerides for Procognitive Effects: A Narrative Review.Frontiers in nutrition · 2022Review
- Efficacy and Safety of Ketone Supplementation or Ketogenic Diets for Alzheimer's Disease: A Mini Review.Frontiers in nutrition · 2021Review
Corrections and comments
PubMed lists nothing against this paper. Absence here is not a guarantee, only a check that was made.
Authors and funding
7 authors at 2 institutions in 1 country.
Funding
No grant is acknowledged in the PubMed record.
Abstract
Evidence suggests that oral intake of medium-chain triglycerides (MCTs), which promote the production of ketone bodies, may improve cognitive functions in elderly people; however, the underlying brain mechanisms remain elusive. We tested the hypothesis that cognitive improvement accompanies physiological changes in the brain and reflects the use of ketone bodies as an extra energy source. To this end, by using functional magnetic resonance imaging, cerebral blood oxygenation level-dependent (BOLD) signals were measured while 20 healthy elderly subjects (14 females and 6 males; mean age: 65.7 ± 3.9 years) were engaged in executive function tasks (N-back and Go-Nogo) after ingesting a single MCT meal (Ketonformula
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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.