Berry grape news to reverse memory problems

William Atkins
Tuesday, 30 December 2008 21:35

Science - Health

USDA researchers found that older laboratory rats reversed the signs of aging on brain function and behavioral performance when they were fed a diet rich in the compound pterostilbene. It could be "berry grape" news (I mean) very great news for a healthy brain.


Their October 27, 2008 article “Cellular and Behavioral Effects of Stilbene Resveratrol Analogues: Implications for Reducing the Deleterious Effects of Aging" appears in the Journal of Agricultural and Food Chemistry, a publication of the American Chemical Society.

Their research was targeted at finding out if polyphenolic compounds, which are contained in rich-colored fruits and vegetables such as blueberries and red grapes, have strong antioxidant and anti-inflammatory properties to benefit humans.

Polyphenolic compounds, or polyphenols, are a group of chemical substances found in plants. It is identified by the presence of more than one phenol unit per molecule.

One such polyphenol is stilbene. Its derivates (called stilbenoids) are present naturally in plants. Two types of stilbenoids are resveratrol and pterostilbene, which were studied here.

The researchers of this study are U.S. scientists from the U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA).

Specifically, they are neuroscientist James A. Joseph, psychologist Barbara Shukitt-Hale, and colleagues from the USDA’s Human Nutrition Research Center on Aging (HNRCA) at Tufts University, Boston, Massachusetts.

Also participating in the study is USDA chemist Agnes M. Rimando with the Agricultural Research Service’s (ARS') Natural Products Utilization Research Unit, Oxford, Mississippi.

How did the researchers perform the experiment? And what were its results? Please read page two.