The berries are rich in flavonoids, a plant-derived molecule which is believed to have a beneficial effect on brain function.

Now scientists from the U.K.'s Westcountry-based Peninsula Medical School and Reading University have shown that a diet rich in blueberries has a significant impact on a person's spatial working memory.

The research was carried out by a research team led by Dr. Jeremy Spencer, a lecturer in molecular nutrition at the University of Reading and included Dr. Claire Williams, a psychologist also from Reading, and Dr Matt Whiteman, a principal investigator at the Institute of Biomedical and Clinical Science, Peninsula Medical School.

Dr. Spencer said: "Impaired or failing memory as we get older is one of life's major inconveniences.

"Scientists have known of the potential health benefits of diets rich in fresh fruit for a long time.

"Our previous work had suggested that flavonoid compounds had some kind of effect on memory, but until now we had not known the potential mechanisms to account for this."

Dr. Whiteman said: "This study not only adds science to the claim that blueberries are good for you, it also provides support to a diet-based approach that could potentially be used to increase memory capacity and performance in the future.

"Indeed, Dr. Spencer's research team plan on extending these findings further by investigating the effects of diets rich in flavonoids on individuals suffering from cognitive impairment and Alzheimer's disease."

The study will soon be published in the science journal Free Radical Biology and Medicine. The research team supplemented a regular diet with blueberries over a 12-week period.

They found that improvements in spatial working memory tasks emerged within three weeks and continued throughout the period of the study.

Blueberries are a major source of flavonoids, in particular anthocyanins and flavanols.

Although the precise mechanisms by which these plant-derived molecules affect the brain are unknown, they have been shown to cross the blood brain barrier after dietary intake.

It is believed that they exert their effects on learning and memory by enhancing existing neuronal (brain cell) connections, improving cellular communications and stimulating neuronal regeneration. The enhancement of both short-term and long-term memory is controlled at the molecular level in neurons.

The research team was able to show that the ability of flavonoids to induce memory improvements are mediated by the activation of signalling proteins via a specific pathway in the hippocampus, the part of the brain that controls learning and memory.

More information is available by logging on at www.reading.ac.uk or www.pms.ac.uk.

Source: The Western Morning News, Plymouth (UK). Provided by ProQuest Information and Learning. Powered by YellowBrix.

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