Greek High Phenolic Early Harvest Extra Virgin Olive Oil Reduces the Over-Excitation of Information Flow based on Dominant Coupling Model in patients with Mild Cognitive Impairment: An EEG Resting-State Validation Approach

Objective The balance of cross-frequency coupling (CFC) over within-frequency coupling (WFC) can build a nonlinearity index (NI) that encapsulates the over-excitation of information flow between brain areas and across experimental time. The present study investigated for the very first time how the Greek High Phenolic Early Harvest Extra Virgin Olive Oil (HP-EH-EVOO) versus Moderate Phenolic (MP-EVOO) and Mediterranean Diet (MeDi) intervention in people with Mild Cognitive Impairment (MCI) could affect their spontaneous EEG dynamic connectivity. Methods Fourty three subjects (14 in MeDi, 16 in MP-EVOO and 13 in HP-EH-EVOO) followed an EEG resting-state recording session (eyes-open and closed) before and after the treatment. Following our dominant coupling mode model (DoCM), we built a dynamic integrated dynamic functional connectivity graph (iDFCG) that tabulates both the functional strength and the DoCM of every pair of brain areas. Results Signal spectrum within 1-13 Hz and theta/beta ratio have been decreased in the HP-EH-EVOO group in both conditions. FI DoCM has been improved after the intervention across groups and conditions but was more prominent in HP-EH-EVOO group (p < 0.001). Finally,we revealed a significant higher post-intervention reduction of NI (ΔNI Total and α ) for the HP-EH-EVOO compared to the MP-EVOO and MeDi groups (p < 0.0001). Conclusions Long-term intervention with HP-EH-EVOO reduced the over-excitation of information flow in spontaneous brain activity. Significance Our study confirms the alteration of signal spectrum of EEG rhythms and dominant coupling mode due to the intervention with HP-EH-EVOO nutrition protocol. Highlights Non-pharmaceutical intervention based on HP-EH-EVOO in MCI reduces the over-excitation of information flow Non-pharmaceutical intervention based on HP-EH-EVOO in MCI increases the human brain flexibility Reconfiguration of dominant coupling modes in EEG resting-state due to the intervention is modulated by alpha frequency