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Worried about Alzheimer's - Have a Juice!
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Alzheimer's disease currently affects an estimated 13 million people in the world, may start losing the battle
because of fruit and vegetable juice! The results of a study published in the September 2006 edition of The Journal
of American Medicine (1) suggest that the antioxidant polyphenols found naturally in fruits and vegetables can reduce the
risk of the onset of Alzheimer's.
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Information was collected from a group of 1836 dementia-free Japanese-Americans on their consumption of fruit and vegetable juice with the use of a questionnaire and was assessed every two years for up to 10 years. The participants were classified three times according to their intake of tea, wine, and juices (fruit and vegetable). Each classification used three categories: "less than once a week", "once or twice a week", and "at least 3 times a week". These tertiles were used to analyze the risks, or Hazards Ratios, of subjects in each category of developing Alzheimer's disease.
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The results indicated that those who drank juice three or more times a week were 76 percent less likely to develop the symptoms of Alzheimer's compared to those who drank less than one serving a week. Interestingly the protective benefit of drinking juices was somewhat greater in those participants who were inactive and had a history of smoking.
Tea drinking was not related to Alzheimer's disease risk. Only a few participants drank wine, and although there may have been a trend towards a 'protective' effect of wine on the development of Alzheimer's, this was not statistically significant. There was no association found for intake of vitamins E, C, or beta-carotene.
Oxidative damage is regarded as one of the critical factors in the development of Alzheimer's. That's why many people take antioxidants in the hopes of delaying its onset. This has led to the use of polyphenols, which are described as being the most abundant dietary antioxidants. Polyphenols are usually found in the skin and peel of fruits and vegetables; when the produce is mechanically squeezed, the polyphenols pass into the juices.
The only limitation of the study was that specific juices were not found to be any more effective than others. The researchers allude that their results need confirmation in further studies, especially ones designed to detect which polphenol is most effective, and which fruits and vegetables confer the greatest protection.
(1) Dai Q, Borenstein A, Wu Y, et al. Fruit and vegetable juices and Alzheimer's disease: the Kame project. The American Journal of Medicine, September 2006;119(9):751-759.
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