Blueberry Supplementation Improves Memory in Older Adults

Filed in archive Food and Agriculture on January 29, 2010

© Jeff Kubina

Published in the latest issue of American Chemical Society's Journal of Agricultural and Food Chemistry is the first first evidence from human research that blueberries, one of the richest sources of healthful antioxidants and other so-called phytochemicals, improve memory.

In the study, one group of volunteers in their 70s with early memory decline drank the equivalent of 2-2 l/2 cups of a commercially available blueberry juice every day for two months. A control group drank a beverage without blueberry juice. The blueberry juice group showed significant improvement on learning and memory tests, the scientists say.

The findings of this preliminary study suggest that moderate-term blueberry supplementation can confer neurocognitive benefit and establish a basis for more comprehensive human trials to study preventive potential and neuronal mechanisms.