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Eating strawberries and blueberries 'may delay cognitive ageing'
April 26, 2012
Berries such as strawberries and blueberries could help to delay cognitive decline as people age.
Eating large amounts of strawberries and blueberries could help to slow down the rate of cognitive decline, US scientists say.
Researchers at Harvard Medical School and Brigham and Women's Hospital used data on 16,010 nurses, all of whom had taken part in a long-term study since the 1970s.
As well as providing information on their diet on a regular basis, the participants also had cognitive tests every couple of years after reaching the age of 70.
The researchers found that women who ate the most blueberries and strawberries tended to show a slower decline in cognitive function than those who rarely consumed berries.
Their findings, which are published in the Annals of Neurology, suggest that antioxidant compounds in these berries may help to protect brain cells.
Dr Elizabeth Devore, who carried out the research, said: "Our findings have significant public health implications as increasing berry intake is a fairly simple dietary modification to test cognition protection in older adults."
Director of research at Alzheimer's Research UK Dr Eric Karran commented that eating fruit in midlife has previously been shown to help reduce people's chances of developing dementia.
He added that eating a healthy balanced diet "is something we should all be thinking about".
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