Berries Found to Protect Brain From Age-Related Damage

As older persons face retirement, many are consuming foods rich in antioxidants, hoping to slow the decrease in function that typically occurs with aging. New research shows that they may be on the right path to better health.

In a U.S. Agricultural Research Service-(ARS; Washington, DC, USA)-funded study, laboratory animals that were fed berry extracts--and then treated to accelerate the aging process--were protected from damage to brain function, the researchers report. ARS is the U.S. Department of Agriculture's (USDA) chief scientific research agency.

Psychologist Dr. Barbara Shukitt-Hale, neuroscientist James Joseph and psychologist Amanda Carey of the Jean Mayer USDA Human Nutrition Research Center on Aging at Tufts University (Boston, MA, USA) conducted the study in collaboration with colleagues at the University of Maryland-Baltimore County (USA). The study was published online in August 2006 of the journal Neurobiology of Aging.

Three groups--20 rats in each--were evaluated for approximately three months. The control group was fed a conventional diet of grain-based chow. A second group was given chow with blueberry extract equal to one cup daily in humans. A third group was fed chow with strawberry extract equal to one pint daily in humans. After two months on the diets, half of the rats in each group were treated to trigger the typical losses in learning and motor skills that often come with aging.

Compared to the aged control rats, the aged-but-supplemented rats were much better able to locate--and in some cases remember--the location of an underwater platform. Furthermore, the aged control rats had lower levels of dopamine release than the nonaged control rats. However, these decreases in dopamine release were not seen in the strawberry and blueberry supplemented groups, whether aged or not.

The study findings add to an array of studies performed during the past eight years showing reduced, or in some cases reversed, declines in brain function among rats whose diets were supplemented with either blueberry, cranberry, or strawberry extracts or Concord grape juice.



Related Links:
U.S. Agricultural Research Service