RESUMEN
OBJECTIVES: To examine the associations of macular pigment carotenoids (lutein, meso-zeaxanthin, and zeaxanthin), aerobic fitness, and central adiposity with hippocampal-dependent relational memory in prepubescent children. STUDY DESIGN: Children between 7 and 10 years of age (n = 40) completed a task designed to assess relational memory performance and participated in aerobic fitness, adiposity, and macular pigment optical density (MPOD) assessment. Aerobic fitness was assessed via a modified Balke treadmill protocol designed to measure maximal oxygen volume. Central adiposity was assessed via dual-energy x-ray absorptiometry. MPOD was measured psychophysically by the use of customized heterochromatic flicker photometry. Statistical analyses included correlations and hierarchical linear regression. RESULTS: Aerobic fitness and MPOD were associated negatively with relational memory errors (P < .01), whereas central adiposity was associated positively with relational memory errors (P < .05). Hierarchical regression analysis revealed that MPOD accounted for a significant amount of the variance in relational memory performance even after we accounted for aerobic fitness (ß = -0.388, P = .007). CONCLUSIONS: Even after we adjusted for aerobic fitness and central adiposity, factors known to relate to hippocampal-dependent memory, MPOD positively and significantly predicted hippocampal-dependent memory performance. TRIAL REGISTRATION: ClinicalTrials.gov: NCT01619826.