Nutritional prevention of cognitive health – SEAMIND

Cognitive health has become essential in the perspective of healthy aging. Indeed, cognitive disorders can affect quality of life and condition cognitive aging. They can occur throughout life, in very different ways for each individual. These inter-individual differences can be explained by the notion of cognitive trajectory, determined by genetic inheritance but also shaped throughout life by certain environmental factors, such as nutrition. Epidemiological, clinical and preclinical studies show that the nutritional quality of food, a key dimension of its sustainability, is a major determinant of a successful cognitive trajectory, i.e. good cognitive health at all stages of life, particularly at certain critical periods. In fact, certain physiological processes occurring at critical periods can lead to a reduction in cognitive reserves, resulting in early cognitive deficits during aging. That's why today we need to focus on earlier prevention of cognitive decline, targeting different critical periods of life (young adult students, post-partum women, menopausal women) or different metabolic statuses (such as obesity), during which physiological processes, such as inflammation, occur and could influence cognitive trajectory.
NutriNeuro laboratory and Abyss Ingredients have acquired, through their respective work, recognized and complementary expertise that will cover all aspects linked to the development of the project: on cognitive health throughout life for NutriNeuro and on innovative ecofriendly extraction processes of marine bioactive compounds for Abyss Ingredients. They wish to apply their expertise within the SeaMind Joint Laboratory in a preventive, personalized, proactive and innovative approach, in order to offer nutritional solutions to maintain an optimal cognitive reserve, thus contributing to a successful cognitive trajectory, with the aim of healthy aging, a real public health issue. The overall aim of the advances made by SeaMind is based on a differentiating approach that consists in proposing a more global vision of prevention in response to the aging of the population.
This joint laboratory will enable the development of new innovative marine active ingredients of animal and/or plant origin, scientifically validated by pre-clinical and clinical studies, in order to 1) preserve cognitive reserve throughout life; 2) offer an innovative, more competitive and effective product range, in the dynamic and competitive market for dietary supplements for cognitive health; 3) meet consumers' need for naturality. The SeaMind project will deepen scientific knowledge on the prevention of memory and mood disorders at different critical periods of life, develop new fields of research at the NutriNeuro laboratory and acquire new common knowledge on cognitive health that will be transferred/enhanced to the economic world, develop new skills in the valorization of marine by-products in France. SeaMind's sustainability strategy is based on a holistic approach integrating collaboration, financing, innovation and technology transfer, with a degree of agility and flexibility to ensure the project's scientific and economic prosperity.