Eating Berries May Help Aging Brain Stay Healthy
Blueberries and strawberries may serve as a detox elixir for the brain and can help your aging mind stay sharp, new research shows. Scientists from the U.S. Department of Agriculture say they've discovered the first solid evidence that the popular fruits, along with acai berries and walnuts, essentially cleanse the brain, activating what's known as its "housekeeper" function and ridding it of toxic proteins. Those proteins are the culprits to blame for age-related memory loss and other mental deterioration. Study author Shibu Poulouse, who works for the USDA's Human Nutrition Research Center on Aging in Boston, said the body's ability to ward off inflammation and oxidative damage declines with age, which can lead to brain disorders, heart disease and cancer, among other degenerative conditions. "The good news is that natural compounds called polyphenolics found in fruits, vegetables and nuts have an antioxidant and anti-inflammatory effect that may protect against age-associated decline," Poulouse told a conference of the American Chemical Society. Poulouse and study co-author James Joseph, who died in June, looked at certain cells in the brain known as microglia -- which eliminate and recycle toxins that can cause the mind to malfunction. That detoxification is called autophagy. As people age, the cleaning cells stop working properly and the biochemical debris accumulates, according to Poulouse. The microglia can also become hyperactive and harm healthy brain cells. "Our research suggests that the polyphenolics in berries have a rescuing effect," said Poulouse, in a statement from the American Chemical Society. "They seem to restore the normal housekeeping function." The scientists used cultures of the brain cells of mice and saw that berry extracts blocked certain proteins from shutting down the autophagy process. But Dr. Douglas Husbands, a nutritionist with a practice in northern California, warned against giving the findings too much weight. "You can't make a generalization from that study," Husbands told AOL Health. "Where were the berries from? Were they organic, or did they contain pesticides? The devil is in the details." And experiments using extracts and animals, rather than actual fruits and humans, don't tell the whole story, he said. "You cannot extrapolate that the extracts are doing the same thing as all the molecules in the food would do," Husbands said. "You have to look at all the ingredients." The authors' prior research has shown antioxidants in fruits and nuts may prevent the decline in cognitive abilities that accompanies aging. In one study, old rats were fed antioxidant-rich strawberry, blackberry and blueberry extract for two months. The diet reversed the age-related degeneration of the rodents' nerve function and memory skills. More on Memory:
Eating a Handful of Pecans Daily May Protect Body, Brain
With Age Comes Wisdom: Midlife Brains Sharper Than Younger Minds
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