Blueberries Boost Memory
January 27, 2010
QUESTION: I party a great deal and do “E” once a month. I’m in college and can really notice that every time I drop “E” I seem to get stupid the next day! What do you think of smart drugs like Modafinil?
ANSWER: Dude I think you have to STOP doing drugs if you ever want to graduate! Modafinil has been used to increase productivity but its long-term effects have not been assessed in healthy individuals. Stimulants such as methylphenidate and atomoxetine are being used on college campuses, and by an increasingly younger group. One survey found that 7% of students had used stimulants for a cognitive edge in the past year, and on some campuses the number is as high as 25%. I prefer a natural approach. According to a recent study, a daily drink of about 500 mL of blueberry juice was associated with improved learning and word list recall.
“These preliminary memory findings are encouraging and suggest that consistent supplementation with blueberries may offer an approach to forestall or mitigate neurodegeneration,” wrote the researchers. “Interpretation of our findings should be tempered because of the relatively small sample size and the absence of a blueberry-specific control, although comparison with the analogous placebo beverage data provides some assurance that the observed changes in memory performance were not attributable to practice effects,” they added.
The beneficial effects are thought to be linked to their flavonoid content (anthocyanins and flavanols). The exact way in which flavonoids affect the brain are unknown, but they have previously been shown to cross the blood brain barrier after you eat them. Maybe they exert their effects on learning and memory by enhancing existing neuronal connections, improving cellular communications and stimulating neuronal regeneration. Nobody knows for sure but it’s worth a try. I would also recommend that you stop taking Ecstacy of course, but I don’t want to sound like your mom!
SOURCE: Nutringredients
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