From: Stemilt Nutrition Roundup Newsletter - March 2007
In the last five years, scientists have shown that diet makes a difference in the development of memory-deteriorating diseases such as Alzheimer’s and Parkinson’s disease. And research on apples and apple juice supports that both products may improve human memory and help slow the effects of Alzheimer’s-related dementia.
In a study published in October 2006, researchers showed how quercetin, an antioxidant abundant in apples, helped to reduce cellular death that is caused by oxidation and inflammation of neurons. Oxidative stress and neuron inflammation are connected not only to memory loss but to other diseases such as Parkinson’s. Researchers G. Bureau and M. Martinoli from the University of Quebec a Trois-Rivieres conducted the study and presented the results in October 2006 at the Society of Neuroscience annual conference in Atlanta.
The University of Quebec study was previously confirmed by similar research published in May 2006 in the journal, Experimental Biology and Medicine. In that study researcher Eric Gershwin, M.D., and his team of scientists with the University of California Davis Health System, exposed human cells to an extract of apple mash made from different apple varieties. The UC Davis team then exposed the cells to a protein-like compound that usually triggers cell death and promotes inflammation and tumor development. The UC Davis research demonstrated how the apple extract protected the cells from the normally lethal effects of the tumor-development process by interfering with the interactions that would usually damage or kill cells in the human body.
Another study published in August 2006 in the Journal of Alzheimer’s Disease indicated that apple juice consumption may actually increase the production in the brain of the essential neurotransmitter acetylcholine. The study was conducted by the University of Massachusetts Lowell.
Neurotransmitters such as acetylcholine are chemicals released from nerve cells that transmit messages to other nerve cells. Such communication is vital for overall good health, not just in the brain. Mice that had Alzheimer’s-like symptoms showed improvement in acetylcholine levels in their brains after consuming the apple-enhanced diets. In addition, these mice performed better when challenged to navigate a maze than those who had not eaten the special apple diet.
The study published in August by the University of Massachusetts research team was preceded by a similar study released in December 2005 in which older mice performed better on memory tests than did animals whose diet was not enriched with apple products. The conclusion: apples must have unique contents that improve cognition and memory. And it’s believed those contents stop oxidation in the brain, which results in the memory and cognition boost!
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