According to new research, adding cranberries to your diet could help improve memory and brain function, and lower ‘bad’ cholesterol.
Adding cranberries to your diet could help improve your memory and brain function, and lower ‘bad’ cholesterol (LDL) – according to new research from the University of East Anglia (UK). A new study published on May 19, 2022, highlights the neuroprotective potential of cranberries.The research team studied the benefits of consuming the equivalent of a cup of cranberries a day among people aged 50 to 80 years old. They hope that their findings could have implications for the prevention of neurodegenerative diseases such as dementia.
Lead researcher Dr. David Vauzour, from UEA’s Norwich Medical School, said: “Dementia is expected to affect around 152 million people by 2050. There is no known cure, so it is crucial that we seek modifiable lifestyle interventions, such as diet, that could help lessen disease risk and burden. “Past studies have shown that higher dietary flavonoid intake is associated with slower rates of cognitive decline and dementia. And foods rich in anthocyanins and proanthocyanidins, which give berries their red, blue, or purple color, have been found to improve cognition.
Cranberries are rich in these micronutrients and have been recognized for their antioxidant and anti-inflammatory properties. “We wanted to find out more about how cranberries could help reduce age-related neurodegeneration.” The research team investigated the impact of eating cranberries for 12 weeks on brain function and cholesterol among 60 cognitively healthy participants.
Half of the participants consumed freeze-dried cranberry powder, equivalent to a cup or 100 grams of fresh cranberries, daily. The other half consumed a placebo “Demonstrating in humans that cranberry supplementation can improve cognitive performance and identifying some of the mechanisms responsible is an important step for this research field.
“The findings of this study are very encouraging, especially considering that a relatively short 12-week cranberry intervention was able to produce significant improvements in memory and neural function,” he added. “This establishes an important foundation for future research in the area of cranberries and neurological health.”.
Source: This news is originally published by scitechdaily.