You know how much we love keeping up with superfruits and news about natural health supplements, so it should come as no surprise that we’ve found another great news bit about berries. More than 16,000 women (70-years-old and up) took part in a study that seemed to show a great connection between berries and memory improvement. In fact, those who ate the most berries on a weekly basis kept a better memory for more than years longer than the others.
A researcher by the name of Elizabeth Devore, who currently works at the Channing Laboratory at Brigham and Women’s Hospital in Boston, said that she doesn’t see any reason why men would have any difference in these kinds of results. And while this study was sponsored by the California Strawberry Commission, it was published by the Annals of Neurology without hesitation. Devore highlighted the fact that the writing, results and data analysis were all done independently and that the strawberry commission played no role in these aspects of the study.
This could be great news since there are an alarming number of Alzheimer patients and there doesn’t seem to be any sign of that slowing down.
Devore recommends that everyone try to include more berries in their diet. In the study, participants were tested every couple of years (1995-2001). Those who consumed a minimum of either half a cup of blueberries each week or two and half cups of strawberries saw amazing benefits over those who ate less than that.
How do Berries Help?
The energy generators for your brain cells are called mitochrondria. They’re also thought to be responsible for producing some toxic substances that often result in Alzheimer’s disease, though. You have probably heard them referred to as free radicals. Antioxidants are known to interact with these substances and prevent them from causing damage. Berries are an amazing source of flavonoids that act as antioxidants, which could be the main reason why there’s such a connection between berries and brain function improvement.
The only thing to take a bit of caution about is that the participants diet were not controlled, but was simply reported by the participants own recollections. You can read more about this study on this CNN Health blog or you can read more about natural health supplements and the superfruit diet.
