Handful Of Berries A Week Could Delay Memory Loss For 2 1/2 Years

Natural Society | November 17 2012

Good news for berry lovers! New research suggests that consuming a handful of berries a week will delay age-related memory loss for up to 2 1/2 years. The study, conducted by Elizabeth Devore, Sc.D and her team of researchers at Brigham and Women’s Hospital in Boston, has yielded results that definitively identify berries, such as blueberries and strawberries, as a delicious preventative measure to be taken against declining cognitive function.

The study tracked the berry-consumption habits of over 16,000 women from 1980-1995, administering a questionnaire every four years. From 1995-2001, cognitive function was tested every two years with a phone interview, during which the participant would be asked to recall details of a paragraph or a list of numbers or words that had been read to them. After adjusting for the positive health effects of income level and frequency of exercise, the results were clear. Women who had consumed a small amount of berries each week, a half a cup of blueberries or one cup of strawberries, experienced a slower rate of mental decline, with the delay of cognitive decline averaging out to approximately two and a half years. Women who did not consume the small amount of berries didn’t see the same benefits.

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Researchers Link BPA To Reproductive Problems, Abnormal Egg Development

Natural Society | September 26 2012

A new animal study links bisphenol-A (BPA) exposure in females in utero with reproductive problems later in life, including abnormal egg development.

“All the eggs that a female is going to have in her lifetime are formed before birth,” says researcher Catherine VandeVoort of University of California, Davis. “Anything that disrupts that process is going to have an impact later in life.”

Impaired Follicles and Division

For the study (which will be published next week in the journal Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences), scientists put fetal monkeys in two groups. A control group remained unexposed to BPA while another group was exposed to the chemical through daily food during second or third trimesters or through an implant that administered constant, low doses of BPA.

The eggs of fetuses exposed to BPA had difficulty forming follicles, which surround eggs during development. Being unprotected in this manner often leads to eggs dying before maturation, according to VandeVoort.

Other abnormalities seen in the eggs were signs that they would carry too many chromosomes from being unable to divide during development, leading to miscarriages or disorders like Down Syndrome.

Closest yet to Human Study, Effects

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