Berry brain benefits

Increased lifespans have led to population aging and brought attention to healthcare concerns associated with old age. A growing body of preclinical and clinical research has identified neurological benefits associated with the consumption of berry fruits. In addition to their now well-known antioxidant effects, dietary supplementation with berry fruits also has direct effects on the brain. Intake of these fruits may help to prevent age-related neurodegeneration and resulting changes in cognitive and motor function.    more

Consuming berries could delay brain aging up to two and a half years

An article published online on April 26, 2012 in the Annals of Neurology reports a protective effect for diets containing high amounts of blueberries and strawberries against cognitive decline in older women. Berries are high in compounds known as flavonoids, which may help reduce the negative impact of inflammation and stress on cognitive function.

Consuming a relatively high amount of blueberries or strawberries was associated with a slower decline in cognitive function test scores over the follow-up period compared to women whose intake was lower, resulting in a delay in cognitive aging of up to 2.5 years. Greater intake of the anthocyanidin class of flavonoids and total flavonoids was also associated with a reduced rate of decline.

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Vitamin D may help lower blood pressure

LONDON, April 25 (UPI) -- A study showed giving vitamin D supplements in Europe in winter can help lower blood pressure in patients with hypertension, Danish researchers said.    more

Vitamin D shrinks uterine fibroids in animal study

Researchers from Meharry Medical College in Nashville report on February 1, 2012 in the journal Biology of Reproduction that treatment with vitamin D decreased uterine fibroid volume in rats bred to develop the tumors.

Fibroids are the most common benign tumor in women and although they often remain small and symptomless, they frequently grow to a significant size, causing pain and increased menstrual bleeding. Fibroid tumors are less common in Caucasian women than in African-Americans, who are also likelier to be deficient in vitamin D.

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Calorie restriction helps regulate glucose and maintain gray matter volume in the brain.

In an article published online on March 13, 2012 in the journal Diabetes, Sterling C. Johnson and his colleagues at William S. Middleton Memorial Veterans Hospital and the University of Wisconsin report a benefit for calorie restriction in glucose regulation and related improvement in brain volume in older rhesus monkeys.

The current study utilized 27 monkeys that received calorie restricted diets beginning in middle age and 17 control monkeys that were allowed to eat as much as they wanted for eight hours per day. To investigate the hypothesis that calorie restriction, via its positive effect on insulin signaling, could improve neural atrophy related to insulin dysregulation in areas of the brain affected by neurovascular and neurodegenerative disorders, the researchers evaluated insulin resistance through the use of glucose tolerance testing and insulin measurement, and assessed regional brain volumes using magnetic resonance imagining (MRI). Motor task learning and performance were analyzed in 26 animals.

While six of the control animals had preclinical or diabetes-like glucoregulatory dysfunction, no calorie restricted animals were found to have glucoregulatory impairment. Increased insulin sensitivity predicted increased gray matter in the parietal and frontal cortices of both groups; however, each unit increase in insulin sensitivity predicted more gray matter in the hippocampus, prefrontal cortex and other regions with a high density of insulin receptors in the calorie restricted group relative to the control animals. Hippocampal gray matter volume adjusted by insulin sensitivity was correlated with learning and memory and performance.

"In summary, increased insulin sensitivity among calorie restricted monkeys was associated with more gray matter in parietofrontal cortices, hippocampus, and other regions that vary in insulin receptor density and signaling," the authors conclude. "Among controls, higher insulin sensitivity showed a positive relationship with gray matter volume in parietofrontal cortices with low insulin receptor density, but predicted less gray matter in structures and areas that have high receptor density. Calorie restriction or calorie restriction mimetics may benefit some specific brain regions and aspects of task learning and performance."

Chocolate. The new wonder drug?

A letter published in the March 26, 2012 issue of the American Medical Association journal of Archives of Internal Medicine reveals the results of a study which found that adults who ate chocolate more frequently had a lower body mass index (BMI) compared to those who consumed it infrequently. Higher body mass index is a component of metabolic syndrome, a cluster of factors linked to the development of diabetes and cardiovascular disease.

Researchers at the University of California, San Diego analyzed data from 1,017 men and women aged 20 to 85 years who had no cardiovascular disease, diabetes, or abnormal low density lipoprotein cholesterol (LDL-C) levels upon enrollment in the UCSD Statin Study, which examined the noncardiac effects of statin drugs. Participants were queried concerning how many times per week they consumed chocolate, and food frequency questionnaires were completed by the majority of subjects.

The participants in the current study consumed chocolate an average of twice per week. Although greater frequency of chocolate intake was associated with increased calorie consumption and saturated fat intake, those who consumed chocolate more often had a lower body mass index than those who consumed it infrequently in several adjusted models.

"Our findings—that more frequent chocolate intake is linked to lower BMI—are intriguing," Beatrice A. Golomb, MD, PhD and her colleagues write. "They accord with other findings suggesting that diet composition, as well as calorie number, may influence BMI."

"A randomized trial of chocolate for metabolic benefits in humans may be merited," they conclude.

Increased isoflavone intake associated with lower blood pressure

At the American College of Cardiology's 61st Annual Scientific Session, held March 24-27 this year in Chicago, Safiya Richardson of Columbia University's College of Physicians and Surgeons reported that adults who consumed a greater amount of isoflavones, which are plant-based compounds found in soy and other foods, have lower systolic blood pressure than those who consume lesser amounts.

For the current investigation, Dr Richardson and her associates analyzed data from the Coronary Artery Risk Development in Young Adults study, which examined the development and determinants of cardiovascular disease in 5,115 African American and Caucasians who were aged 18-30 years old upon enrollment in 1985. During the twentieth year of follow-up, the participants completed extensive dietary surveys. Among those whose intake of flavones was among the highest 25 percent of subjects at over 2.5 milligrams per day, systolic blood pressure was 5.5 mmHg lower on average than those whose intake was among the lowest fourth at less than 0.33 milligrams.

"This could mean that consuming soy protein, for example, in combination with a DASH diet – one that is high in fruits and vegetables, low-fat dairy and whole grains – could lead to as much as a 10 mmHg drop in systolic blood pressure for pre-hypertensives, greatly improving their chances of not progressing to hypertension," Dr Richardson commented. "Any dietary or lifestyle modification people can easily make that doesn't require a daily medication is exciting, especially considering recent figures estimating that only about one third of American hypertensives have their blood pressure under control."

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