Improved cognitive performance and mental fatigue following a multi-vitamin and mineral supplement with added guaraná (Paullinia cupana)

Kennedy, David, Haskell, Crystal, Robertson, Bernadette, Reay, Jonathon, Brewster-Maund, C., Luedemann, J., Maggini, Silvia, Ruf, M., Zangara, Andrea and Scholey, Andrew (2008) Improved cognitive performance and mental fatigue following a multi-vitamin and mineral supplement with added guaraná (Paullinia cupana). Appetite, 50 (2-3). pp. 506-513. ISSN 0195-6663

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Abstract

Guaraná (Paullinia cupana) extracts are most commonly used in Western markets as putatively psychoactive food and drink additives. This double-blind, randomised, placebo-controlled, parallel groups study assessed the acute effects of either a vitamin/mineral/guaraná supplement or placebo drink in 129 healthy young adults (18–24 years). Participants completed a 10 min version of the Cognitive Demand Battery (comprising: Serial 3s and Serial 7s subtraction tasks, a Rapid Visual Information Processing (RVIP) task, ‘mental fatigue’ scale). Thirty minutes following their drink participants made six consecutive completions of the battery (i.e. 60 min). The vitamin/mineral/guaraná combination resulted in improved task performance, in comparison to placebo, in terms of both increased speed and accuracy of performing the RVIP task throughout the post-dose assessment. The increase in mental fatigue associated with extended task performance was also attenuated by the supplement.
This research supports previous findings demonstrating guaraná's cognition enhancing properties and provides evidence that its addition to a multi-vitamin–mineral supplement can improve cognitive performance and reduce the mental fatigue associated with sustained mental effort.

Item Type:	Article
Additional Information:	Crystal Haskell now known as Crystal Haskell-Ramsay.
Uncontrolled Keywords:	Vitamins, minerals, guaraná, Paullinia cupana, fatigue, mental demand, attention
Subjects:	B900 Others in Subjects allied to Medicine C800 Psychology
Department:	Faculties > Health and Life Sciences > Psychology
Depositing User:	Ay Okpokam
Date Deposited:	19 Dec 2011 11:52
Last Modified:	12 Oct 2019 16:28
URI:	http://nrl.northumbria.ac.uk/id/eprint/4229

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