Veronica Witte

• PhD
• Group Leader at University of Leipzig Medical Center and Max Planck Institute for Human Cognitive and Brain Sciences

Obesity has been linked with structural and functional brain changes. However, the impact of obesity on brain and cognition in aging remains debatable, especially for white matter. We therefore aimed to determine the effects of obesity on white matter microstructure and potential implications for cognition in a well-characterized large cohort of he...

Obesity is a complex neurobehavioral disorder that has been linked to changes in brain structure and function. However, the impact of obesity on functional connectivity and cognition in aging humans is largely unknown. Therefore, the association of body mass index (BMI), resting-state network connectivity, and cognitive performance in 712 healthy,...

Metabolic changes have been suggested to contribute to dementia and its precursor mild cognitive impairment (MCI), yet previous results particularly for the “satiety hormone” leptin are mixed. Therefore, we aimed to determine if MCI patients show systematic differences in leptin, independent of sex, adipose mass, age, and glucose and lipid metaboli...

Dietary habits such as caloric restriction or nutrients that mimic these effects may exert beneficial effects on brain aging. The plant-derived polyphenol resveratrol has been shown to increase memory performance in primates; however, interventional studies in older humans are lacking. Here, we tested whether supplementation of resveratrol would en...

Objective: White matter hyperintensities (WMH) are linked to vascular risk factors and increase the risk of cognitive decline, dementia and stroke. We here aimed to determine if obesity contributes to regional WMH using a whole‐brain approach in a well‐characterized population‐based cohort. Methods: Waist‐to‐hip ratio (WHR), body mass index (BMI),...

Objective To investigate the effects of age at natural menopause and reproductive lifespan on cognitive performance using causal reasoning. Methods We first identified potential mechanisms linking menopause and cognition focusing on the potential causal role of cumulative estrogen exposure. We then used cross-sectional data from approximately 2,20...

Deep learning models highly accurately predict brain age from MRI but their explanatory capacity is limited. Explainable artificial intelligence (XAI) methods can identify relevant voxels contributing to model estimates, yet they do not reveal which biological features these voxels represent. In this study, we closed this gap by relating voxel-base...

As the process of Alzheimer’s disease (AD) begins years before disease onset, searching for prevention strategies is of major medical and economic importance. Nutritional supplementation with long-chain polyunsaturated omega-3 fatty acids (LC-n3-FA) may exert beneficial effects on brain structure and function. However, experimental evidence in olde...

Peak width of skeletonized mean diffusivity (PSMD) is an emerging automated diffusion imaging marker showing clinically relevant changes in cerebral small vessel disease (cSVD), a leading cause of stroke and dementia with no mechanism-based treatment. We conducted a genome-wide association study of PSMD in 58,403 participants from 24 population-bas...

Background Obesity is a multifactorial disease reaching pandemic proportions with increasing healthcare costs, advocating the development of better prevention and treatment strategies. Previous research indicates that the gut microbiome plays an important role in metabolic, hormonal, and neuronal cross-talk underlying eating behavior. We therefore...

Background: We recently reported that a green-Mediterranean (green-MED), high-polyphenol diet is potentially neuroprotective for age-related brain atrophy. Here, we explored the interplay between dietary intervention, proteomics profile, and accelerated brain age. Methods: In the 18-month DIRECT PLUS trial, 294 participants (adherence rate=89%) wer...

White matter hyperintensities index structural abnormalities in the cerebral white matter, including axonal damage. The latter may promote atrophy of the cerebral cortex, a key feature of dementia. Here, we report a study of 51,065 individuals from 10 cohorts demonstrating that higher white matter hyperintensity volume associates with lower cortica...

Subcortical brain structures are involved in developmental, psychiatric and neurological disorders. Here we performed genome-wide association studies meta-analyses of intracranial and nine subcortical brain volumes (brainstem, caudate nucleus, putamen, hippocampus, globus pallidus, thalamus, nucleus accumbens, amygdala and the ventral diencephalon)...

Background Multimodal lifestyle interventions might help to maintain healthy cognition in older age and to delay onset of dementia. Here, we studied the effects of a multi-modal lifestyle-based intervention, based on the FINGER trial, on magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) markers of hippocampal-limbic atrophy and cerebral small vessel disease in olde...

Ghrelin, a hunger-related gut hormone, may contribute to higher risk of depression in obesity. Despite animal studies suggesting antidepressant effects of circulating ghrelin, human studies remain inconclusive. Therefore, we aimed to explore the association between obesity, ghrelin serum levels, and depressive symptoms in a large population-based c...

Background Alzheimer’s disease (AD) is characterized by progressive cognitive decline and specific brain atrophy patterns, primarily involving the medial temporal lobes. A number of studies have discussed hypothalamic involvement in AD with consecutive metabolic and/or autonomic disturbances yet only few studies have investigated hypothalamic atrop...

Introduction Deep learning models highly accurately predict brain-age from MRI but their explanatory capacity is limited. Explainable A.I. (XAI) methods can identify relevant voxels contributing to model estimates, yet, they do not reveal which biological features these voxels represent. In this study, we closed this gap by relating voxel-based con...

Subcortical brain structures are involved in developmental, psychiatric and neurological disorders. We performed GWAS meta-analyses of intracranial and nine subcortical brain volumes (brainstem, caudate nucleus, putamen, hippocampus, globus pallidus, thalamus, nucleus accumbens, amygdala and, for the first time, the ventral diencephalon) in 74,898...

Within occupational settings, mental health of employees can be affected by complex interactions between individuals and their work environment. The aim of this cross-sectional analysis was to investigate the association between person-environment fit and mental health in employees. Data of n = 568 participants from the LIFE adult cohort study was...

Zusammenfassung Ziel der Studie Ziel der Studie war die Untersuchung der Gesundheitskompetenz (GK) sowie verschiedener Versorgungsaspekte von Long-COVID-Betroffenen. Methodik Daher wurden 407 Long-COVID Betroffene mit langanhaltender neuropsychiatrischer Symptomatik im LIFE-Studienzentrum befragt. Mittels deskriptiver, sowie Regressionsanalysen wur...

INTRODUCTION: White matter hyperintensities (WMH), a major cerebral small vessel disease marker, may arise from different pathologies depending on their location. We explored clinical and genetic correlates of agnostically derived spatial WMH patterns in two longitudinal population-based cohorts (3C-Dijon, LIFE-Adult). METHODS: We derived seven WMH...

White matter hyperintensities (WMH) reflect cerebral small vessel disease (cSVD), a major brain pathology contributing to cognitive decline and dementia. Vascular risk factors, including higher diastolic blood pressure (DBP), have been associated with the progression of WMH yet longitudinal studies have not comprehensively assessed these effects fo...

The size of the human head is highly heritable, but genetic drivers of its variation within the general population remain unmapped. We perform a genome-wide association study on head size (N = 80,890) and identify 67 genetic loci, of which 50 are novel. Neuroimaging studies show that 17 variants affect specific brain areas, but most have widespread...

Aims Taste modifies eating behaviour, impacting body weight and potentially obesity development. The Obese Taste Bud (OTB) Study is a prospective cohort study launched in 2020 at the University of Leipzig Obesity Centre in cooperation with the HI‐MAG Institute. OTB will test the hypothesis that taste cell homeostasis and taste perception are linked...

Background: Obesity is a multifactorial disease reaching pandemic proportions with increasing healthcare costs, advocating the development of better prevention and treatment strategies. Previous research indicates that the gut microbiome plays an important role in metabolic, hormonal, and neuronal cross-talk underlying eating behavior. We therefore...

Obesity is associated with negative effects on the brain. We exploit Artificial Intelligence (AI) tools to explore whether differences in clinical measurements following lifestyle interventions in overweight population could be reflected in brain morphology. In the DIRECT‐PLUS clinical trial, participants with criterion for metabolic syndrome under...

Neuroimaging and machine learning are opening up new opportunities in studying biological aging mechanisms. In this field, 'brain age gap' has emerged as promising MRI-based biomarker quantifying the deviation between an individual's biological and chronological age of the brain - an indicator of accelerated/decelerated aging. Here, we investigated...

Background Obesity is a multifactorial condition. Genetic variants, such as the fat mass and obesity related gene (FTO) polymorphism, may increase the vulnerability of developing obesity by disrupting dopamine signaling within the reward network. Yet, the association of obesity, genetic risk of obesity, and structural connectivity of the reward net...

There is an empirical association between stress and symptoms of food addiction (FA), but it is still not clear which domains of stress are the most relevant when it comes to FA, limiting the ability of researchers and practitioners to address problematic eating‐related health outcomes. In order to address this gap in the literature, we analysed ho...

Background: Prebiotic dietary fiber and related metabolites have been suggested to attenuate low-grade systemic and central inflammation through improving gut-brain axis signaling. We here aimed to test whether habitual or short-term high-dose fiber intake is linked to inflammatory markers in blood and to indicators of central hypothalamic inflamma...

Ovarian hormones have substantial effects on the brain, and early menopause has been associated with increased risk of accelerated brain aging and dementia later in life. However, the impact of ovarian hormone fluctuations on brain structure earlier in life is less understood. Here we show that ovarian hormone fluctuations shape structural brain pl...

Objective Animal studies suggest that prebiotic, plant-derived nutrients could improve homoeostatic and hedonic brain functions through improvements in microbiome–gut–brain communication. However, little is known if these results are applicable to humans. Therefore, we tested the effects of high-dosed prebiotic fibre on reward-related food decision...

Developmental dyscalculia is a neurodevelopmental disorder specific to arithmetic learning even with normal intelligence and age-appropriate education. Difficulties often persist from childhood through adulthood lowering the individual’s quality of life. However, the neural correlates of developmental dyscalculia are poorly understood. This study a...

Background So far, previous research suggests positive effects of mental demands at the workplace. However, it may depend on how stressfull these demands are perceived on an individual level. Objective The aim was to build on previous research by investigating how mental demands are related to stress, overload, and work discontent and whether this...

During the past decade, cognitive neuroscience has been calling for population diversity to address the challenge of validity and generalizability, ushering in a new era of population neuroscience. The developing Chinese Color Nest Project (devCCNP, 2013–2022), the first ten-year stage of the lifespan CCNP (2013–2032), is a two-stages project focus...

Children with developmental dyscalculia showed reduced volume and surface area in bilateral frontoparietal cortices but no significant cortical thickness changes when compared to typically developing peers

Memory processes have long been known to determine food choices (Rozin & Zellner, 1985) but recognition memory of food and its cognitive, homeostatic and neuroanatomical predictors are still largely understudied. 60 healthy, overweight, non-restrictive eating adults (20 females) took part in a food wanting and subsequent food recognition and lure d...

Background Ghrelin and leptin are both peptide hormones and act as opposing players in the regulation of hunger, satiety and energy expenditure. Leptin reduces appetite and feelings of hunger and is secreted mainly by adipocytes, while ghrelin increases appetite and food intake and reduces metabolic rate. Both hormones have been implicated in addic...

Eating behavior and food‐related decision making are among the most complex of the motivated behaviors, and understanding the neurobiology of eating behavior, and its developmental dynamics, is critical to advancing the nutritional sciences and public health. Recent advances from both human and animal studies are revealing that individual capacity...

Ghrelin is an orexigenic peptide hormone synthesized in times of stress and hunger and alterations of the ghrelin system following acute stressors could be repeatedly shown in humans. However, little data exists on long-term effects of trauma on the ghrelin system. We aimed to investigate the influence of childhood trauma on total ghrelin serum lev...

Background: Social isolation has been suggested to increase the risk to develop cognitive decline. However, our knowledge on causality and neurobiological underpinnings is still limited. Methods: In this preregistered analysis, we tested the impact of social isolation on central features of brain and cognitive ageing using a longitudinal populat...

Social isolation has been suggested to increase the risk to develop cognitive decline. However, our knowledge on causality and neurobiological underpinnings is still limited.

Social isolation has been suggested to increase the risk to develop cognitive decline. However, our knowledge on causality and neurobiological underpinnings is still limited.

Social isolation has been suggested to increase the risk to develop cognitive decline. However, our knowledge on causality and neurobiological underpinnings is still limited.

Background Social isolation (SI) is considered a modifiable risk factor for cognitive decline and dementia, is associated with unhealthy lifestyle. We investigated independent and combined associations of SI and lifestyle with cognitive functioning (CF) in a midlife to early‐late life population without dementia. This informs developing more target...

Objective: Animal studies suggest that prebiotic, plant-derived nutrients could improve homeostatic and hedonic brain functions through improvements in microbiome-gut-brain communication. However, little is known if these results are applicable to humans. Therefore, we tested the effects of high-dosed prebiotic fiber on reward-related food decision...

Multiorgan imaging unveils the intertwined nature of the human heart and brain.

Purpose Adult idiopathic condylar resorption (AICR) mainly affects young women, but generally accepted diagnostic standards are lacking. Patients often need temporomandibular joint (TMJ) surgery, and often jaw anatomy is assessed by CT as well as MRI to observe both bone and soft tissue. This study aims to establish reference values for mandible di...

Objective: Previous studies have shown that socioeconomically deprived groups exhibit higher lesion load of the white matter (WM) in aging. The aim of this study was to (i) investigate to what extent education and income may contribute to differences in white matter hyperintensities (WMHs) and (ii) identify risk profiles related to a higher preval...

Introduction: Resilience describes good adaptation to adversity and is a significant factor for well-being in old age. Initial studies indicate a high relevance of social resources. So far, only few studies have investigated resilience patterns in the elderly population. Therefore, the present study aims to investigate sociodemographic and social...

Objective: The present study aimed to investigate the relationship between olfactory sulcus (OS) depth and olfactory function considering age and gender and to provide normative data on OS depth in a population with normal olfactory function. Materials and methods: OS depth was obtained using T1 magnetic resonance imaging scans. Participants (me...

Background: Premenstrual dysphoric disorder (PMDD) disrupts the lives of millions of people each month. The timing of symptoms suggests that hormonal fluctuations play a role in the pathogenesis. Here, we tested whether a heightened sensitivity of the serotonin system to menstrual cycle phase underlies PMDD, assessing the relationship of serotonin...

Background While necessary for studying dietary decision-making or public health, estimates of nutrient supply based on self-reported food intake are barely accessible or fully lacking and remain a challenge in human research. In particular, detailed information on dietary fiber is limited. In this study we introduce an automated openly available a...

Adopting plant-based diets high in fiber may reduce global warming and obesity prevalence. Physiological and psychological determinants of plant-based food intake remain unclear. As fiber has been linked with improved gut-brain signaling, we hypothesized that a single plant-based (vegetarian and vegan) compared to an animal-based (animal flesh) mea...

Background: The retina is part of the central nervous system. Layers of the retina can be investigated non-invasively by optical coherence tomography (OCT). Previously, associations of retinal nerve fibre layer thickness (RNFLT) with cognitive function were established in population-based studies. Clinical relevance constitutes the improvement of e...

While there are studies connecting everyday physical activity (PA) to mental health, they mostly use self-report measures for PA which are biased in multiple ways. Nevertheless, a realistic assessment of everyday PA is important for the development and implementation of low-threshold public health interventions. Therefore, we want to analyze the re...

While many structural and biochemical changes in the brain have previously been associated with older age, findings concerning functional properties of neuronal networks, as reflected in their electrophysiological signatures, remain rather controversial. These discrepancies might arise due to several reasons, including diverse factors determining g...

Most societies witness an ever increasing prevalence of both obesity and dementia, a scenario related to often underestimated individual and public health burden. Overnutrition and weight gain have been linked with abnormal functionality of homoeostasis brain networks and changes in higher cognitive functions such as reward evaluation, executive fu...

Background There are socioeconomic inequalities in dementia risk. Underlying pathways are not well known. Objective To investigate whether modifiable health and lifestyle factors for brain health mediate the association of socioeconomic status (SES) and cognitive functioning in a population without dementia. Methods The “LIfestyle for BRAin healt...

Memory processes have long been known to determine food choices(Rozin and Zellner, 1985)⁠ but recognition memory of food and its cognitive, homeostatic and neuroanatomical predictors are still largely understudied. 60 healthy, overweight, non-restricted eating adults (20 females) took part in a food wanting and subsequent food recognition and lure...

Studies show a connection between anxiety and stress, but with little differentiation between different domains of stress. In this article, we utilize a multi-dimensional approach to better understand the relationship between different chronic stress domains and anxiety. This will allow researchers to identify and address those areas of stress that...

Fluctuations in ovarian hormones influence the risk of depression and Alzheimer's disease, which is twice as high in females. How ovarian hormones affect brain structural plasticity in regions involved in memory and affective cognition, however, remains unclear. Detailed menstrual cycle phenotyping in health may therefore allow for differentiating...

Substantial evidence indicates a huge potential for risk reduction of cognitive decline and dementia based on modifiable health and lifestyle factors. To maximize the chances for risk reduction, it is useful to investigate associations of social determinants and lifestyle for brain health. We computed the “LIfestyle for BRAin health” (LIBRA) score...

Background: Research shows a connection between stress and depression, but there is little differentiation between areas of stress, making it difficult to identify and address specific areas in the context of public health measures. We utilized a multi-dimensional approach to chronic stress to better understand the relationship between different a...

Brain-age (BA) estimates based on deep learning are increasingly used as neuroimaging biomarker for brain health; however, the underlying neural features have remained unclear. We combined ensembles of convolutional neural networks with Layer-wise Relevance Propagation (LRP) to detect which brain features contribute to BA. Trained on magnetic reson...

Background PR interval prolongation is a preliminary stage of atrial cardiomyopathy which is considered as an intermediate phenotype for atrial fibrillation (AF). AF is a known risk factor for cerebrovascular adverse outcomes including stroke. Cerebral ischemia is one cause of white matter hyperintensities (WMHs), and cognitive dysfunction. Aim To...

Background Anxiety is a widespread phenomenon, and it is connected to disordered eating and obesity. We want to analyze the connection between anxiety and food addiction (FA) over two points in time to better understand the directionality of the association. Since there are gender differences with regard to anxiety and eating, we are also intereste...

Well characterized databases used for experimental purposes with extensive meta-data are essential for conducting meaningful and comparable studies. The Food-pics_extended database (Blechert et al., 2019) is one example for a widely used food stimulus database (original publication Blechert et al., 2014: 285 citations, and 2019: 32 citations). Inde...

Why was the cohort set up? Population-based cohort studies are an essential foundation for investigating associations of genetic and non-genetic risk factors with the occurrence of diseases. Several such studies have been initiated in Germany over the past decades focusing on specific phenotypes and diseases. 1-5 In 2009, the Leipzig Research Centr...

Tyrosine (tyr), the precursor of the neurotransmitter dopamine, is known to modulate cognitive functions including executive attention. Tyr supplementation is suggested to influence dopamine-modulated cognitive performance. However, results are inconclusive regarding the presence or strength and also the direction of the association between tyr and...

Background Ghrelin and the adipokines leptin and adiponectin have been suggested to be involved in mood and anxiety regulation and to be altered in affective disorders. However, studies investigating the association between ghrelin, leptin and adiponectin and depressive symptomatology are scarce but might contribute to a better understanding of the...

The hippocampus and surrounding medial temporal lobe (MTL) are critical for memory processes, with local atrophy linked to memory deficits. Animal work shows that MTL subregions densely express sex hormone receptors and exhibit rapid structural changes synchronized with hormone fluctuations. Such transient effects in humans have thus far not been s...

Addictive-like eating is prevalent, but a clear conceptualization and operationalization outside of an addiction framework is lacking. By adopting a biopsychological framework of food reward, this study sought to develop and evaluate a brief self-report questionnaire for the trait assessment of hedonic overeating and dyscontrol. Items in the Hedoni...

Over the past few decades, neuroimaging has become a ubiquitous tool in basic research and clinical studies of the human brain. However, no reference standards currently exist to quantify individual differences in neuroimaging metrics over time, in contrast to growth charts for anthropometric traits such as height and weight ¹ . Here we assemble an...

Background: While necessary for studying dietary decision-making or public health, estimates of nutrient supply based on self-reported food intake are barely accessible or fully lacking and remain a challenge in human research. In particular, detailed information on dietary fiber is limited. In this study we introduce an automated openly available...

Background: While necessary for studying dietary decision-making or public health, estimates of nutrient supply based on self-reported food intake are barely accessible or fully lacking and remain a challenge in human research. In particular, detailed information on dietary fiber is limited. In this study we introduce an automated openly available...

Life expectancy steadily increases, and so do age-associated diseases, leading to a growing population suffering from cognitive decline and dementia. Impairments in working memory (WM) and episodic memory (EM) are associated with an increased risk of developing dementia. While there are no effective pharmacological therapies to preserve or enhance...

Background: The effect of diet on age-related brain atrophy is largely unproven. Objective: To explore the effect of a Mediterranean diet higher in polyphenols and lower in red/processed meat (Green-MED diet) on age-related brain atrophy. Methods: This 18-month clinical trial longitudinally measured brain structure volumes by magnetic-resonanc...

Social isolation has been suggested to increase the risk to develop cognitive decline. However, our knowledge on causality and neurobiological underpinnings is still limited. In this preregistered analysis, we tested the impact of social isolation on central features of brain and cognitive aging using a longitudinal population-based magnetic resona...

Tyrosine (tyr), the precursor of the neurotransmitter dopamine, is known to modulate cognitive functions including executive attention. Tyr supplementation is suggested to influence dopamine-modulated cognitive performance. However, results are inconclusive, regarding the presence or strength and also the direction of the association between tyr an...

Background Cardiometabolic risk factors including mid‐life obesity, diabetes and hypertension are associated with accelerated cognitive decline, e.g. in executive function, and brain aging, e.g. alterations in white matter (WM) microstructure [1]. Method 290 participants (34 females, mean age= 49 y (30 – 79 y) of the DIRECT‐PLUS trial (clinicaltri...

With the eye as window to the brain, non-invasive fast screening of retinal nerve fiber layer thickness poses the opportunity for early detection of cognitive decline leading to dementia. Our objective is to determine whether performance in various neurocognitive tests has an association with itemized retinal nerve fiber layer thickness. Detailed i...