Dear Colleagues,

Population ageing poses one of the most relevant global public health challenges in the 21st century. Advances in healthcare and socioeconomic development have substantially reduced mortality and morbidity rates, resulting in a life expectancy increase. Nonetheless, these demographic and epidemiological changes, accompanied by changes in risk factors and lifestyles, have increased the incidence and prevalence of health conditions. More so, with an ageing population, concerns about cognitive decline, and thus issues of autonomy and quality of life, are becoming an increasingly relevant topic in both clinics and academia. The World Health Organization defines healthy ageing as the process of developing and maintaining the functional ability that enables wellbeing in older age. Consequently, a key priority is to understand ways to maintain health, active living and wellbeing during ageing.

Diet and physical activity are modifiable lifestyle factors that are associated with cognitive performance in all ages, but their influence is potentially more prominent in older adults. In this population, diet and physical activity may affect cognitive performance by direct effects on brain health or, indirectly, through effects on other health conditions, such as obesity, hypertension, diabetes, and depression.

The study of the effects of dietary intake and exercise in the cognition of older individuals is complex, and its impacts are difficult to accurately measure. Nevertheless, inputs on these topics are paramount to establish recommendations and to design strategies that may optimize, or minimize the decline of, cognitive function.

The aim of this Special Issue is to identify and assess dietary factors (e.g., dietary diversity and specific nutrients/phytochemicals) as well as lifestyle factors (e.g., physical activity and/or exercise) in the optimization of cognitive performance and/or in the prevention and management of cognitive decline in older adults. The identification of innovative tools and technologies that can aid, assess and/or modulate dietary intake and physical activity, with an impact on older adults’ cognition, is also of particular interest. Finally, the recognition of gaps in this field of knowledge is also important and welcomed.

We encourage all researchers who work, or can contribute, to this field to submit original research papers, reviews, systematic reviews, and meta-analyses to this Special Issue in order to broaden our knowledge and open new research avenues.

Dr. Nadine Correia Santos
Dr. Carlos Portugal-Nunes
Guest Editors

Manuscript Submission Information

Manuscripts should be submitted online at www.mdpi.com by registering and logging in to this website. Once you are registered, click here to go to the submission form. Manuscripts can be submitted until the deadline. All submissions that pass pre-check are peer-reviewed. Accepted papers will be published continuously in the journal (as soon as accepted) and will be listed together on the special issue website. Research articles, review articles as well as short communications are invited. For planned papers, a title and short abstract (about 100 words) can be sent to the Editorial Office for announcement on this website.

Submitted manuscripts should not have been published previously, nor be under consideration for publication elsewhere (except conference proceedings papers). All manuscripts are thoroughly refereed through a single-blind peer-review process. A guide for authors and other relevant information for submission of manuscripts is available on the Instructions for Authors page. Nutrients is an international peer-reviewed open access semimonthly journal published by MDPI.

Please visit the Instructions for Authors page before submitting a manuscript. The Article Processing Charge (APC) for publication in this open access journal is 2900 CHF (Swiss Francs). Submitted papers should be well formatted and use good English. Authors may use MDPI's English editing service prior to publication or during author revisions.

• ageing
• dietary intake
• physical activity
• exercise
• nutritional intake
• nutritional status
• dietary diversity
• sarcopenia
• frailty
• obesity
• malnutrition
• cachexia
• metabolism
• biological markers
• neurobiology
• cognitive performance
• cognitive function
• muscle mass
• body fat
• memory
• executive function
• mood
• mental wellbeing
• brain function
• brain structure
• functional ability
• functional decline
• biomechanical analysis
• accelerometry data
• health wearables
• digital tools
• assessment tools
• technology
• successful aging
• healthy aging