Compounds in blueberries known as flavonoids, especially the anthocyanins, have antioxidant and anti-inflammatory properties, giving them great potential to fight aging, Alzheimer’s disease, and other chronic ailments.
Blueberries appear to protect cells from a wide range of injuries by exerting potent antioxidant and anti-inflammatory effects to directly change oxidative and inflammatory stress-signaling pathways.
In animal studies, a blueberry-enriched diet has been shown to protect against loss of brain cells seen with different types of brain injury and aging, as well as against associated impairments in memory, learning, and coordination.
Blueberry supplementation is also associated with growth of new nerve cells, and with better communication between existing nerve cells through the process known as signal transduction.
Anthocyanins in blueberries enter the brains of supplemented animals, where they lodge in the striatum, a specific area controlling certain types of memory and motor function. The striatum is also predominantly involved in Parkinson’s disease.
Population studies in humans suggest that diets high in fruit and vegetables—particularly those of dark color, such as blueberries—may protect against oxidative stress, Alzheimer’s disease, and other chronic conditions.
Experts interviewed by Life Extension highly recommend consumption of blueberries as part of a healthy lifestyle program.
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Compounds in blueberries known as flavonoids, especially the anthocyanins, have antioxidant and anti-inflammatory properties, giving them great potential to fight aging
True, and would like to add that blueberries,along with other dark berries/extracts, will reverse your age, if the potency is great enough.
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Let Food Be Your Medicine And Medicine Be Your Food.(Hippocrates)
Getting forgetful? Then blueberries may hold the key
If you are getting forgetful as you get older, then a research team from the University of Reading and the Peninsula Medical School in the Southwest of England may have good news for you.
If you are getting forgetful as you get older, then a research team from the University of Reading and the Peninsula Medical School in the South West of England may have good news for you.
They have found that phytochemical-rich foods, such as blueberries, are effective at reversing age-related deficits in memory, according to a study soon to be published in the science journal Free Radical Biology and Medicine.
The researchers working at the Schools of Food Biosciences and Psychology in Reading and the Institute of Biomedical and Clinical Sciences at the Peninsula Medical School in Exeter supplemented a regular diet with blueberries over a 12-week period, and found that improvements in spatial working memory tasks emerged within three weeks and continued throughout the period of the study.
Blueberries are a major source of flavonoids, in particular anthocyanins and flavanols. Although the precise mechanisms by which these plant-derived molecules affect the brain are unknown, they have been shown to cross the blood brain barrier after dietary intake. It is believed that they exert their effects on learning and memory by enhancing existing neuronal (brain cell) connections, improving cellular communications and stimulating neuronal regeneration.
The enhancement of both short-term and long-term memory is controlled at the molecular level in neurons. The research team was able to show that the ability of flavonoids to induce memory improvements are mediated by the activation of signalling proteins via a specific pathway in the hippocampus, the part of the brain that controls learning and memory.
This innovative research was conducted by a multidisciplinary research team led by Dr. Jeremy Spencer, a lecturer in Molecular Nutrition at the University of Reading and included Dr. Claire Williams, a Psychologist also from Reading and Dr. Matt Whiteman, a Principal Investigator at the Institute of Biomedical and Clinical Science, Peninsula Medical School.
Dr Spencer commented: “Impaired or failing memory as we get older is one of life’s major inconveniences. Scientists have known of the potential health benefits of diets rich in fresh fruits for a long time. Our previous work had suggested that flavonoid compounds had some kind of effect on memory, but until now we had not known the potential mechanisms to account for this”.
Dr. Whiteman added "This study not only adds science to the claim that eating blueberries are good for you, it also provides support to a diet-based approach that could potentially be used to increase memory capacity and performance in the future. Indeed, Dr. Spencer’s research team plan on extending these findings further by investigating the effects of diets rich in flavonoids on individuals suffering from cognitive impairment and Alzheimer’s disease.”
Any way you buy them - fresh, frozen or dried - blueberries are packed with nutritional power. If you need any reason other than their taste to snack on blueberries, keep these nutritional vignettes in mind:
Anthocyanins – the pigments that make blueberries blue - are potent antioxidants: A half cup of blueberries provides the antioxidant power of five servings of peas, carrots, apples, squash or broccoli.
Berries are a healthy, low glycemic-index carbohydrate, an especially good choice for diabetics.
Blueberries are a source of vitamin C, important for a healthy immune system.
Blueberries offer two grams of fiber per one-half cup serving.
Blueberries have shown promise in addressing the effects of aging: animal studies have shown improved motor skills and a reversal of age-related short-term memory loss.
Blueberries may have health benefits ranging from preventing cancer and defending against urinary tract infections to protecting the brain from stroke damage and reducing heart disease risks.
Look for organic blueberries at your local produce stand, and toss some in a salad, on cereal, as a snack, or make a blueberry pie.
If fresh organic blueberries are cost prohibitive, substitute with frozen or dried blueberries - all three forms provide health-protective benefits.
Keep in mind that dried blueberries are a concentrated source of sugar, so enjoy them in moderation.
I'd heed a note of caution about Blueberreis on Cereal. To my understanding, combining Grains and Fruits isn't seen as a great thing, as Cereal could impede Fruit digestion and reduce digestion efficacy. So as Fruit has a 30 minute standard digestion time, might be worth giving the Berries 10-15 minutes to start passing into the intestinal tract, and then consume the cereal, to reduce the chances of any reduced digestion, or partial purifaction of Berries.
Laboratory of Human & Animal Physiology, Department of Biology, University of Patras, Greece.
The aim of this study was to examine the effect of a polyphenol-rich extract (PrB) of Vaccinium angustifolium (wild blueberries) introduced intraperitonealy (i.p.) at 30 (PrB30) and 60 (PrB60) mg/kg body weight for 7 days, on cognitive performance, brain oxidative status and acetylcholinesterase activity in adult, male, 3-4-month-old Balb-c mice.
Evaluation of rodent learning and memory was assessed by a step-through test on day 6 after a double training and an initial acquisition trial on day 5. Antioxidant status was determined by ferric reducing antioxidant power (FRAP), ascorbic acid concentration (FRASC), malondialdehyde and reduced glutathione levels in whole brain homogenates. Acetylcholinesterase (AChE) activity was determined by Ellman's colorimetric method.
Results showed that the PrB60-treated mice exhibited a significant improvement in learning and memory (step-through latency time of 228+/-38s compared to 101+/-32s of the control group). PrB extract administration also resulted in reduced lipid peroxidation products (38 and 79%) and higher brain ascorbic acid levels (21 and 64%) in both PrB30 and PrB60-treated groups, respectively, and higher glutathione levels (28%) in the PrB60-treated group.
Furthermore, salt- and detergent soluble AChE activity significantly decreased in both PrB-treated groups. Thus, the significant cognitive enhancement observed in adult mice after short-term i.p. supplementation with the blueberry extract concentrated in polyphenols, is closely related to higher brain antioxidant properties and inhibition of AChE activity.
These findings stress the critical impact of wild blueberry bioactive components on brain function.
Hope you don't mind my jumping in but there was another very interesting study out this week on blueberries and their ability to affect blood vessel growth which may make explain their role as potential tumor fighters.
COLUMBUS, Ohio � Researchers at The Ohio State University have shown that feeding a blueberry extract to mice with tumors that are primarily found in infants and children will decrease tumor size and increase survival. Mice that were fed the blueberry extract lived twice as long as control animals and had tumors that were 60 percent smaller in size, the study found.
The study looked at a tumor of blood vessels called hemangionendotheliomas. Tumors that are made from endothelial cells found in blood vessels affect about 3 percent of children, usually occur within four weeks of birth and more often affect premature infants.
�This work provides the first evidence demonstrating that blueberry extract can limit tumor formation by inhibiting the formation of blood vessels and inhibiting certain signaling pathways,� says principal investigator Dr. Gayle Gordillo, director of research in the Division of Plastic Surgery at The Ohio State University Medical Center. �Oral administration of blueberry extract represents a potential therapeutic strategy for treating endothelial cell tumors in children.�
The findings are published this month in the journal of Antioxidants & Redox Signaling, the leading journal in its field.
About 90 percent of these vascular tumors will resolve on their own within 9 years, so usually they are not treated and the family waits for them to go away naturally. However, they often occur on the head or neck, resulting in an obvious deformity, and can be life-threatening if they obstruct the airway, says Gordillo, who collaborated on the study with Dr. Chandan K. Sen, a member of the Molecular Carcinogenesis and Chemoprevention program in Ohio State�s Comprehensive Cancer Center and director of the Comprehensive Wound Center.
Gordillo describes the tumor as like a big, blood-filled sponge. Current treatment options such as high-dose steroids can cause developmental delays and suppression of the immune system, so they are not ideal for treating young children. Surgically removing the tumors is generally avoided because the child could potentially bleed to death or have a significant deformity, she says. Many families end up choosing to accept the deformity that these tumors cause in their children because the risks associated with treatment are so severe.
�Our hope is that if we feed blueberry juice to a child with this type of tumor, we can intervene and shrink the tumor before it becomes a big problem,� says Gordillo, who directs the Hemangioma Vascular Malformation Clinic at Nationwide Children�s Hospital in Columbus. �Our next step is a pilot study with humans to see if we can measure response to the treatment using imaging techniques and the monitoring of chemical changes in the urine,� says Gordillo.
The study also showed that the blueberry extract inhibited two important biochemical signaling pathways needed by tumor cells to grow. This finding could have implications in other cancers, including breast, some melanomas, head and neck and ovarian, Gordillo says.
Funding from the National Institutes of Health/National Institute for General Medical Sciences supported this research.
Other Ohio State researchers involved in the study include Huiqing Fang, Savita Khanna, Justin Harper and Gary Phillips.
The Ohio State University Comprehensive Cancer Center-James Cancer Hospital and Solove Research Institute is one of only 40 NCI-designated Comprehensive Cancer Centers in the United States and the only freestanding cancer hospital in the Midwest. Ranked among the top 20 cancer hospitals in the nation, The James is the 172-bed adult patient-care component of the cancer program at The Ohio State University
Blueberries - Superfood for Your Brain and More
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