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This is the 4th of 8 essays on new berry science reported at the
2nd International Symposium on Berry Health Benefits,
Oregon State University, Corvallis
June 11-12, 2007
First a review of background ...
A pandemic of poor diets and lifestyle practices linked to rising rates of obesity, diabetes, cancer, and chronic inflammation, pain and cardiovascular diseases
has swept across the world in recent decades.
Recognizing the urgent need to redirect consumer attention toward healthier eating habits and lifestyles, various scientific and consumer organizations have released advisories
for eating higher amounts of whole natural foods, including color-rich plants like berries.
Health Power of Pigments
Discussed previously from the Berry Doctor's Journal
Every one of 27 presentations at the Oregon Berry Health Benefits Symposium
discussed the potential health values of anthocyanins.
What are anthocyanins?
Anthocyanins (from Greek: anthos = flower + kyanos = blue) are water-soluble
pigments that appear in a general range of red to blue, according to acidity.
In response to ripening maturity and environmental stressors,
they are synthesized by plants and bacteria, occurring in all tissues of higher plants, providing color in leaves, stems, roots, flowers, and fruits.
Read other background about anthocyanins in this series
Part 1
Part 2
Part 3 (click!)
Spoon Yourself Brain Food
Berries and Brain Health
Subcell Biochem. 2007;42:299-318.
Nutrition against brain aging:
reducing the effects of inflammation and oxidative stress.
Lau FC, Shukitt-Hale B, Joseph JA.
USDA-ARS, Human Nutrition Research Center on Aging at Tufts University, Boston, MA, USA.
By the year 2050, the elderly (aged 65 or older) population will be more than twice the number of children (aged 0-14) for the first time in history.
The expansion of the elderly population has already taken a toll on health care systems. In order to alleviate health care costs and increase the quality of living in the aging population, it is crucial to find methods that slow or reverse the effects of aging.
Inflammation and oxidative stress play important roles in brain aging. Inflammatory markers, as well as cellular and molecular oxidative damage, increase during normal brain aging. This increase is accompanied by the concomitant decline in cognitive and motor performance in the elderly population, even in the absence of neurodegenerative diseases.
Consumption of diets rich in antioxidant and anti-inflammatory agents, such as those found in fruits and vegetables, may lower the risk of developing age-related neurodegenerative diseases such as Parkinson's disease and Alzheimer's disease.
Research from our laboratory suggests that dietary supplementation with fruit or vegetable extracts can decrease the age-enhanced vulnerability to oxidative stress and inflammation. Additional research suggests that the polyphenolic compounds found in fruits such as blueberries may exert their beneficial effects through improved neuronal communication. Thus, nutritional intervention may exert therapeutic protection against age-related deficits and neurodegenerative diseases.
The Kame Project: Daily Fruit Juice Consumption
May Reduce Risk of Alzheimer's Disease
Following last year's publication of the Kame Project showing that regular dark fruit juice consumption could lower risk against Alzheimer's disease (click), attention toward the potential anti-aging roles of berry pigments including anthocyanins has also increased, a message highlighted at the Symposium through the decades-long efforts of Dr. James Joseph and colleagues (Tufts University, Boston; USDA).
Dr. Joseph presented evidence that long-term blueberry or strawberry consumption improved physical capabilities, memory and learning of new tasks in mice and aged rats.
Preliminary results indicate the beneficial effects of anthocyanins are due not only to antioxidant protection against stress, but also to production of new brain cells (called neurons) and improved communication among them.
Courtesy of the US National Berry Crops Initiative
How can the typical consumer obtain these benefits?
New research indicates it is simply through
consumption of berries and other "dark" fruits or their juices!
Consider these two research abstracts from
PubMed, a service of the US National Library of Medicine
Nutrition. 2006 Mar;22(3):295-302.
Effects of Concord grape juice on cognitive and motor deficits in aging.
Shukitt-Hale B, Carey A, Simon L, Mark DA, Joseph JA.
USDA-ARS, Human Nutrition Research Center on Aging at Tufts University, Boston, Massachusetts, USA.
(Abstract has been modified) OBJECTIVE: Animals and humans show increased motor and cognitive declines with aging that are thought to be due to increased susceptibility to the long-term effects of oxidative stress and inflammation. Previous findings have suggested that reversals in these age-related declines might be accomplished by increasing the dietary intake of polyphenolics found in fruits and vegetables, especially those identified as being high in antioxidant and anti-inflammatory activities. METHODS: We investigated the beneficial effects of two concentrations of Concord grape juice (10% and 50%) compared with a calorically matched placebo for their effectiveness in reversing age-related deficits in behavioral and neuronal functions in aged rats. RESULTS: Rats that drank the 10% grape juice from age 19 to 21 mo had improvements in cognitive performance and memory in a water maze, and the 50% grape juice produced improvements in motor function. CONCLUSIONS: These findings suggest that anthocyanins and similar berry chemicals in foods may be beneficial in reversing the course of neuronal and behavioral aging.
J Agric Food Chem. 2007 Apr 18;55(8):3148-57.
Evaluation of phenolic compounds in commercial
fruit juices and fruit drinks.
Mullen W, Marks SC, Crozier A.
Plant Products and Human Nutrition Group, Division of Biochemistry and Molecular Biology, Institute of Biomedical and Life Sciences, University of Glasgow, Glasgow, United Kingdom.
(Abstract has been modified) The total phenolic content of 13 commercially available fruit juices and juice drinks, selected to represent the most popular juice flavors in the United Kingdom, were analyzed. Individual phenolic compounds were identified and quantified. The catechin content and degree of polymerization of proanthocyanidins were also analyzed. Purple grape juice contained the largest number of individual phenolic compounds and also the highest concentration of total phenolics. The main components were flavan-3-ols, anthocyanins, and hydroxycinnamates, which accounted for 93% of the total phenolic content. In contrast, white grape juice, which contained principally hydroxycinnamates, had the lowest total phenolic content. Antioxidant activity was measured using the ORAC and FRAP assays, and the data obtained were in broad agreement with total phenol content. In view of the recent findings of the Kame project indicating that long-term fruit juice consumption can provide protection against Alzheimer's disease (Dai et al. Am. J. Med. 2006, 379, 464-475), it is suggested that the protective effects may be enhanced by consumption of a combination of juices rich in phenolics and containing a diverse variety of individual phenolic compounds, namely, juices derived from purple grapes, grapefruit, cranberries, and apples.
Control of brain health may be in our own hands...
Could health be any easier?
Additional References (inexpensive on Amazon.com)
- Heber D. What Color Is Your Diet?, ReganBooks/HarperCollins, New York, 2001
- Joseph JA, Nadeau DA, Underwood A. The Color Code, Hyperion Books, New York, 2002
Upcoming Essays from the
2007 Symposium on Berry Health Benefits
- Obesity and Diabetes
- Cancer
- Bacterial Infections
- Neurological Diseases and Aging (Today)
- Inflammation
- Interpreting Anti-Disease Benefits from Preliminary Research
- Processing and Storage Effects on Nutrients
- A Dietary Guide
ARCHIVES (click!)
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Dr. Paul
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