Blueberry juice & purple grape juice improve memory in older adults

January, 2010

Two small studies provide the first human evidence that blueberries and Concord grape juice can improve verbal memory in those with mild cognitive impairment.

A number of rodent studies have shown that blueberries can improve aging memory; now for the first time, a human study provides evidence. In the small study, nine older adults (mean age 76) with mild cognitive impairment (MCI) drank the equivalent of 2-2 l/2 cups of a commercially available blueberry juice every day. After three months they showed significantly improved paired associate learning and word list recall. The findings will of course have to be confirmed by larger trials, but they are consistent with other research.

A companion study involving 12 older adults (75-80) with MCI found that those who drank a pure variety of Concord grape juice for 12 weeks also saw their performance progressively improve on tests in which they had to learn lists and remember items placed in a certain order.

Reference: 

Related News

Training in a mental imagery technique has been found to help multiple sclerosis patients in two memory domains often affected by the disease: autobiographical memory and episodic future thinking.

A study involving 218 participants aged 18-88 has looked at the effects of age on the brain activity of participants viewing an edited version of a 1961 Hitchcock TV episode (given that participants viewed the movie while in a MRI machine, the 25 minute episode was condensed to 8 minutes).

A study involving 100 healthy older adults (aged 60-80) has found that those with higher levels of physical activity showed more variable spontaneous brain activity in certain brain regions (including the

A ten-year study involving 2,092 older adults (average age 76) has found that people tended to lose awareness of memory problems two to three years before the onset of dementia.

A large, five-year study challenges the idea that omega-3 fatty acids can slow age-related cognitive decline.

A large, two-year study challenges the evidence that regular exercise helps prevent age-related cognitive decline.

A study involving 97 healthy older adults (65-89) has found that those with the “Alzheimer’s gene” (APOe4) who didn’t engage in much physical activity showed a decrease in hippocampal volume (3%) over 18 months.

An Indian study involving 648 dementia patients, of whom 391 were bilingual, has found that, overall, bilingual patients developed dementia 4.5 years later than the monolingual ones. There was no additional advantage to speaking more than two languages.

A study, involving 371 patients with mild cognitive impairment, has found that those with depressive symptoms had higher levels of amyloid-beta, particularly in the frontal cortex and the anterior and posterior

A study involving 206 spousal and adult children caregivers of dementia sufferers (mostly Alzheimer’s) has found that about 84% of caregivers reported a clinically significant burden. Three factors were significant contributors to the burden:

Pages

Subscribe to Latest newsSubscribe to Latest newsSubscribe to Latest health newsSubscribe to Latest news
Error | About memory

Error

The website encountered an unexpected error. Please try again later.