Why Blueberries Are Good For Your Brain

Blueberries are nothing short of magic for your body. Blueberries have the highest antioxidant capacity of any food tested so far1. This means that the chemicals in blueberries help prevent your body AND brain from deteriorating better than any other food on the planet. Every day your body takes a serious beating from the foods you eat, the air you breathe, chemicals you encounter, sunlight, and even cosmic radiation flying at you from outerspace (it's true!). All of these things produce "free radicals", molecules that are just plain mean and go around destroying important things inside your cells like DNA and proteins, ultimately damaging and killing your cells. This means not only cells in your skin, but also in your muscles, bones, organs, and BRAIN! But blueberries, with their incredible antioxidant capacity, fight and destroy these "free radicals" to keep your cells healthy and happy. They are the ultimate soldiers.

blueberries

When rats were fed blueberries some amazing things happened. The blueberries PREVENTED age-related declines in movement and brain function! The rats' cells were more responsive and healthier, and THE RATS COULD LEARN FASTER and had BETTER MEMORIES2,3,4. Not even rats that were fed Vitamin E did better. This is because blueberries contain OTHER molecules besides vitamins that fight to keep your body's and brain's cells healthy.

A few other amazing things about blueberries have been found as well: some results show that blueberries INCREASE THE NUMBER OF NEW NEURONS YOUR BRAIN MAKES EVERY DAY5, increase the ability of your neurons to talk to each other6, and even improve the survival and function of grafted neurons in rats with Parkinson's Disease7. How incredible is that? Can you imagine how much we DON'T KNOW about blueberries yet?

This is why blueberries are nothing short of magic for your body.

References:

  1. Prior et. al. Antioxidant capacity as influenced by total phenolic and anthocyanin content, maturity and variety of Vaccinium species. J. Agric. Food Chem. 46:2586-93. 1998.
  2. Bickford et. al. Effects of aging on cerebellar noradrenergic function and motor learning: nutritional interventions. Mech. Aging Develop. 111:141-54. 1999.
  3. Bickford et. al. Antioxidant-rich diets improve cerebellar physiology and motor learning in aged rats. Brain Res. 866:211-17. 2000.
  4. Joseph et. al. Reversals of age-related decline in neuronal signal transduction, cognitive, and motor behioral deficits with blueberry, spinach, or strawberry dietary supplementation. J. Neurosci. 19:8114-21. 1999.
  5. Casadesus et. al. Modulation of hippocampal neurogenesis and cognitive performance in the aged rat: the blueberry effect. Soc. Neurosci. Abstr. 28:294.1. 2002.
  6. Joseph et. al. Blueberry supplementation enhances signaling and prevents behavioral deficits in an Alzheimer disease model. Nutr. Neurosci. 6:153-62. 2003.
  7. McGuire et. al. Dietary supplementation with blueberry extracts improves the survival and function of grafted embryonic dopamine neurons in rats. Soc. Neurosci. Abstr. 28:787.7. 2002.

Other Great Articles