Originally published February 12 2010
Don't forget to eat blueberries: Scientists find they help memory
by S. L. Baker, features writer
(NaturalNews) Although several studies involving laboratory animals have provided tantalizing clues that eating blueberries improves memory, could the delicious fruit actually help people retain their mental sharpness as they age? The good new appears to be "yes". In fact, blueberries might even boost brain power. For the very first time, a study has found evidence that blueberry juice improves memory in humans.
For the research project, a team of scientists from the University of Cincinnati, the U.S. Department of Agriculture, and the Canadian Department of Agriculture worked with a group of volunteers in their 70s who suffered from early memory decline. Half the group drank the equivalent of two to two and 1/2 cups of blueberry juice every day for two months. As a control, a second group drank a different beverage that did not contain any blueberry juice.
After about eight weeks, the scientists conducted learning and memory tests to see if the research participants' cognitive abilities had undergone any measurable changes. The results, which were recently published in the American Chemical Society's (ACS) Journal of Agricultural and Food Chemistry, showed that the elders who had been regularly drinking blueberry juice demonstrated significant improvement in their mental faculties.
Lead researcher Robert Krikorian and colleagues concluded that eating blueberries, which are a rich source of antioxidants and phytochemicals, may help boost memory in the aged. Bottom line: the study establishes a basis for larger, comprehensive human clinical trials to further document how blueberries can be a powerful aid for keeping brains and thinking abilities healthy and strong into old age.
"These preliminary memory findings are encouraging and suggest that consistent supplementation with blueberries may offer an approach to forestall or mitigate neurodegeneration," the researchers stated.
As NaturalNews has previously reported, blueberries have gained the attention of researchers studying a whole range of ways this remarkable fruit can protect and heal the body. For example, scientists at Rutgers University and the U.S. Department of Agriculture found in animal studies that a compound in blueberries called pterostilbene could prevent colon cancer (http://www.naturalnews.com/021951_blueberrie...).
In addition, another animal study revealed that blueberries can lower the levels of artery-clogging LDL (known as the "bad" cholesterol) as effectively as statin drugs, but without negative side effects (http://www.naturalnews.com/002906_berries_bl...).
For more information:
http://www.naturalnews.com/blueberries.html
http://pubs.acs.org/doi/abs/10.1021/jf902933...
http://www.naturalnews.com/025866_berries_fo...
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