Spirulina and apples make the brain younger
29-9-2006 16:31:22

A diet with many antioxidants from vegetables and fruits not only slows down the deterioration of the brain due to aging. Two American research teams have discovered that vegetable products even repair aged brain tissue. Their research on animals appeared in the July 2002 issue of the Journal of Neuroscience.

In the University of Florida’s publication, old rats received either regular feed, or feed that consisted of 2 percent freeze-dried spinach powder. Spinach contains quite a lot of antioxidants. During six weeks, the researchers blew cold air in the animals’ cages after they had sounded a little bell, and they discovered that the ‘spinach rats’ made a connection much more quickly between the sound and the air flow. They also reacted more quickly.

Because the capability to learn and react deteriorates with age, according to the researchers, the study showed that the antioxidants in spinach can reverse this process.
In another article researchers worked with three groups of rats. One group received feed that was “spiced up” with cucumber - a vegetable which contains many solvable fibers, but not a lot of antioxidants. The second group received feed that was supplemented with apples, which contain more antioxidants. The feed of the third group was supplemented with Spirulina, an alga with an extremely high antioxidant value. Also, all rats were old in this research.

Nothing happened to the cucumber rats. After two weeks, the other groups showed a decrease in production of the infection-stimulating proteins Tumor Necrose Factor alfa and beta in the brain. In addition, the concentration of a product named malondialdehyde went down as well. This indicates a decrease in damage by free radicals.
Finally, in the brains of the Spirulina rats the products acetylcholine, adrenaline, and noradrenaline started working better.

The researchers explained their findings with the free radical theory. This theory claims that free radicals are constantly produced during combustion processes in the body. These free radicals are aggressive molecules, which can affect cell walls and DNA and therefore speed up aging. Free radicals are stored, which means more damage can be done. Antioxidants, however, can neutralize these free radicals.

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