Blueberries

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"Give with a free hand, but give only your own."
-- J.R.R. Tolkien The Children of Hurin
- Blueberries -

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Observations:

Food for the Aging Mind
United States Department of Agriculture Agricultural Research Service
...Examination of the brain tissue of those blueberry-fed rats showed much higher levels of dopamine than were found in the other groups. Dopamine has many functions within the brain. In particular, it can affect the way the brain controls movements.

“We suspected that the combined antioxidant potency of compounds in blueberry extract may have reduced inflammatory compounds in the brains of these older animals,” says Joseph. “Inflammation ordinarily contributes to neuronal and behavioral shortfalls during aging.”

Tests have since shown that blueberry compounds cross the blood-brain barrier and localize in rodent brain tissue...
http://www.ars.usda.gov/is/AR/archive/aug07/aging0807.htm

Milk Destroys Antioxidant Benefits in Blueberries
Tuesday, February 03, 2009 by: Barbara L. Minton, citizen journalist

(NaturalNews) Not much is better than a bowl of fresh blueberries. Bursting with flavor and sweetness, low in calories, and packed with nutrients and antioxidants, these tiny fruits are anti-aging superstars. There is however one word of caution. Blueberries lose their power when eaten with milk.

...A study reported in the August, 2008 journal Nutrition and Neuroscience looked at cognitive impairment in age-related neurodegenerative diseases such as Alzheimer's as being due to long-term exposure and increased susceptibility to inflammatory insults. They investigated whether polyphenols in blueberries could reduce the deleterious effects of induced inflammation.

Rats were fed a diet that included a non-steroidal anti-inflammatory drug (NSAID), or a 2 percent blueberry diet. After two weeks and behavioral evaluation, the rats were examined and total RNA from the hippocampus was extracted to analyze the expression of inflammation-related genes. The researchers found the blueberry diet was able to improve cognitive performance to a much greater degree than was the NSAID diet. Blueberry eaters showed a reduction in several factors influencing the inflammatory response. They concluded that blueberry polyphenols can lessen learning impairments resulting from neurotoxic insult and exert anti-inflammatory actions, perhaps by alteration of gene expression.

Other studies have found that diets rich in blueberries significantly improved both the learning capacity and motor skills of aging animals, making them mentally equivalent to animals much younger.
http://www.naturalnews.com/025516.html

Blueberry Extracts Boost Brain Function
By Rosalie Marion Bliss
August 8, 2007

A single dietary change has allowed laboratory animals with a genetic tendency toward Alzheimer's disease to perform as well as healthy peers in maze tests. Agricultural Research Service (ARS) scientists noted the diet-induced behavioral differences in the Alzheimer's-prone animals after feeding them blueberry extracts from the equivalent of their early adulthood to early middle age...
http://www.ars.usda.gov/is/pr/2007/070808.htm

Blueberry Juice Improves Memory in Older Adults
ScienceDaily (Jan. 21, 2010)
Scientists are reporting the first evidence from human research that blueberries -- one of the richest sources of healthful antioxidants and other so-called phytochemicals -- improve memory. They said the study establishes a basis for comprehensive human clinical trials to determine whether blueberries really deserve their growing reputation as a memory enhancer... In the study, one group of volunteers in their 70s with early memory decline drank the equivalent of 2-2 l/2 cups of a commercially available blueberry juice every day for two months. A control group drank a beverage without blueberry juice. The blueberry juice group showed significant improvement on learning and memory tests, the scientists say...
http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2010/01/100120121552.htm

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