The global increases in life expectancy and population have resulted in a growing ageing population and with it a growing number of people living with age-related neurodegenerative conditions and dementia, shifting focus towards methods of prevention, with lifestyle approaches such as nutrition representing a promising avenue for further development.

This overview summarises the main themes discussed during the 3^rd Symposium on “Nutrition for the Ageing Brain: Moving Towards Clinical Applications” held in Madrid in August 2018, enlarged with the current state of knowledge on how nutrition influences healthy ageing and gives recommendations regarding how the critical field of nutrition and neurodegeneration research should move forward into the future.

Specific nutrients are discussed as well as the impact of multi-nutrient and whole diet approaches, showing particular promise to combatting the growing burden of age-related cognitive decline. The emergence of new avenues for exploring the role of diet in healthy ageing, such as the impact of the gut microbiome and development of new techniques (imaging measures of brain metabolism, metabolomics, biomarkers) are enabling researchers to approach finding answers to these questions. But the translation of these findings into clinical and public health contexts remains an obstacle due to significant shortcomings in nutrition research or pressure on the scientific community to communicate recommendations to the general public in a convincing and accessible way. Some promising programs exist but further investigation to improve our understanding of the mechanisms by which nutrition can improve brain health across the human lifespan is still required.

全球预期寿命和人口的增加导致人口老龄化的加剧，随之而来的是越来越多的人患有与年龄相关的神经退行性疾病和痴呆症，将重点转移到预防方法上，而营养等生活方式方法代表了一个有希望的途径为进一步发展。

^{本概述总结了 2018 年 8 月在马德里举行的第三届}“老龄大脑的营养：迈向临床应用”研讨会上讨论的主题，扩大了关于营养如何影响健康老龄化的知识现状，并就如何营养和神经退行性变研究的关键领域应该向前迈进。

讨论了特定的营养素以及多营养素和全饮食方法的影响，特别有望对抗与年龄相关的认知衰退日益严重的负担。探索饮食在健康老龄化中的作用的新途径的出现，例如肠道微生物组的影响和新技术的发展（脑代谢的成像测量、代谢组学、生物标志物），使研究人员能够找到这些问题的答案。但是，由于营养研究存在重大缺陷或科学界面临以令人信服和可访问的方式向公众传达建议的压力，将这些发现转化为临床和公共卫生环境仍然是一个障碍。