Orange juice, berries may prevent memory loss in men

Eating leafy greens, dark orange or red vegetables and berry fruits, and drinking orange juice may lower risk of memory loss over time, especially in men, a study has found.

The study, looked at 27,842 men with an average age of 51 who were all health professionals.

Participants filled out questionnaires about how many servings of fruits, vegetables and other foods they had each day at the beginning of the study and then every four years for 20 years.

A serving of fruit is considered one cup of fruit or half a cup of fruit juice. A serving of vegetables is considered one cup of raw vegetables or two cups of leafy greens.

"One of the most important factors in this study is that we were able to research and track such a large group of men over a 20-year period of time, allowing for very telling results," said a researcher.

"Our studies provide further evidence dietary choices can be important to maintain your brain health,"  he said .

Participants also took subjective tests of their thinking and memory skills at least four years before the end of the study, when they were an average age of 73.

The test is designed to detect changes that people can notice in how well they are remembering things before those changes would be detected by objective cognitive tests.

Changes in memory reported by the participants would be considered precursors to mild cognitive impairment.

A total of 55 per cent of the participants had good thinking and memory skills, 38 per cent had moderate skills, and seven per cent had poor thinking and memory skills.

The participants were divided into five groups based on their fruit and vegetable consumption. For vegetables, the highest group ate about six servings per day, compared to about two servings for the lowest group.

For fruits, the top group ate about three servings per day, compared to half a serving for the bottom group.

The men who consumed the most vegetables were 34 per cent less likely to develop poor thinking skills than the men who consumed the least amount of vegetables.

A total of 6.6 per cent of men in the top group developed poor cognitive function, compared to 7.9 per cent of men in the bottom group.

The men who drank orange juice every day were 47 per cent less likely to develop poor thinking skills than the men who drank less than one serving per month.

This association was mainly observed for regular consumption of orange juice among the oldest men, researchers said.

A total of 6.9 per cent of men who drank orange juice every day developed poor cognitive function, compared to 8.4 per cent of men who drank orange juice less than once a month.

The researchers also found that people who ate larger amounts of fruits and vegetables 20 years earlier were less likely to develop thinking and memory problems, whether or not they kept eating larger amounts of fruits and vegetables about six years before the memory test.

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Prebiotics in formula milk may boost babies' memory skills

While breast milk is considered the best, for mothers for whom breastfeeding is difficult or impossible adding prebiotics to the formula milk could enhance memory and learning in babies, researchers suggest.
 
Among other benefits, breast milk contains natural sources of prebiotics: small, indigestible fibre molecules that promote the growth of good bacteria in the baby's gut, which is not present in the standard formula milk. 

The study, conducted on piglets showed that prebiotics included in the infant formula enhanced memory and exploratory behaviour in babies.

"When we provide prebiotics in formula, our results confirm that we can not only benefit gut health, which is known, but we can also influence brain development," said an Associate Professor.

"We can actually change the way piglets learn and remember by influencing bacteria in the colon," the Prof. added.

In the study, reported in the journal, starting on the second day of life, piglets were given a cow's milk-based infant formula supplemented with polydextrose (PDX), a synthetic carbohydrate with prebiotic activity, and galactooligosaccharide (GOS), a naturally occurring prebiotic. 

Piglets are widely considered a more informative model for human infants than mice and rats, their digestive systems, behavioural responses, and brain development are remarkably similar to human infants. 

Pigs fed with the prebiotic supplements spent more time playing with new objects, on a learning and memory test, than pigs who did not receive the supplements.

The preference for novel objects, an indication of natural curiosity, is a sign of healthy brain development and points towards positive development of learning and memory, the researchers said.

THIS IS ONLY FOR INFORMATION, ALWAYS CONSULT YOU PHYSICIAN BEFORE HAVING ANY PARTICULAR FOOD/ MEDICATION/EXERCISE/OTHER REMEDIES.    

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Afternoon naps could improve thinking and memory skills, says new research

Wandering off for an afternoon nap might not the best way to impress your boss – but scientists say it could improve your performance at work.

Researchers at the University of Pennsylvania found a short sleep in the afternoon improves people’s thinking and memory skills and makes the brain perform as if it were five years younger.

The team studied 3,000 elderly Chinese people and looked at whether those who frequently took afternoon naps performed better on mental ability tests.

The participants were given recall tasks and some maths problems, as well as being asked to copy drawings of shapes.

Scientists found people who took a nap after lunch did better on the tests than those who did not sleep in the middle of the day. In total, 60 per cent of people in the study slept after lunch, with the average nap time being 63 minutes.

The study suggested an hour was the best length of nap; people who had longer or shorter rests performed up to six time worse on the tasks. Taking an afternoon nap of the right length is so beneficial that it has the same effect as being five years younger, the researchers said.
 
They concluded: “The results support the hypothesis that a moderate-duration nap taken during the post-lunch dip is associated with better overall cognition.

“Older adults who did not nap or napped longer than 90 minutes (extended nappers) were significantly more likely than those who napped for 30 to 90 minutes after lunch (moderate nappers) to have lower overall cognition scores.

“This study suggests that absence of napping and too much napping are associated with poorer cognition, but naps of a moderate duration are associated with better cognition and may be an important part of optimizing cognition in elderly adults.”

The study, which was published in the Journal of the American Geriatric Society, confirms previous studies that have shown the benefits of napping, as long as the rest is not too long.

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