Fruit And Vegetable Juice Consumption May Reduce Risk Of Alzheimer's
Disease
Main Category: Nutrition/Agriculture News
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Date: 31 Aug 2006 - 5:00am (PDT)
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Drinking fruit and
vegetable juices frequently may delay the onset of Alzheimer's disease. In a
study published in the September issue of The American Journal of Medicine,
researchers followed almost 2000 subjects for up to 10 years and found that the
risk for developing Alzheimer's disease was reduced by 76% for those who drank
fruit and vegetable juices more than 3 times per week compared with those who
drank juices less than once per week. A lower reduction (16%) was obtained for
juice consumption once or twice per week.
Recent studies of Alzheimer's
disease biochemistry have focused on the accumulation of beta-amyloid peptide in
the brain, and the action of hydrogen peroxide in mediating this process.
Various studies have suggested that polyphenols, strong anti-oxidants available
in many foods, might disrupt these processes and provide some protection against
Alzheimer's disease. Although some studies of anti-oxidant vitamins have been
disappointing, this study is the first to examine juices rich in polyphenols as
a preventive measure for Alzheimer's disease.
The subjects were already
part of the Kame Project, a prospective study of Japanese populations living in
Hiroshima, Japan; Oahu, Hawaii; and the metropolitan area of Seattle,
Washington. Drawing from the Seattle population, 1836 people were identified as
free of dementia in 1992-1994, and were followed at 2-year time intervals until
the end of 2001. Dietary consumption of fruit and vegetable juices was
determined from self-administered questionnaires developed for Asian
populations. Cognitive function was assessed by trained interviewers using a
standardized test, with clinical follow-up resulting in clinical diagnoses for
those patients showing impairment.
Writing in the article, Qi Dai, MD,
PhD, states, “We found that frequent drinking of fruit and vegetable juices was
associated with a substantially decreased risk of Alzheimer's disease. This
inverse association was stronger after adjustments for potential confounding
factors, and the association was evident in all strata of selected variables.
These findings are new and suggest that fruit and vegetable juices may play an
important role in delaying the onset of Alzheimer's disease”. Qi Dai also said
that the next step is to investigate whether high blood concentrations of
polyphenols high in major fruit and vegetable juices are associated with a
reduced risk of cognitive decline and Alzheimer's disease.
The study is
“Fruit and Vegetable Juices and Alzheimer's Disease: The Kame Project” by
Qi Dai, MD, PhD, Amy R. Borenstein, PhD, Yougui Wu, PhD, James C. Jackson, PhD,
and Eric B. Larson, MD, MPH, and comes from the Vanderbilt School of Medicine,
the Veterans Administration Tennessee Valley Geriatric Research, Education, and
Clinical Center, the University of South Florida, Tampa, Florida, and the Group
Health Cooperative, Seattle, Washington. It appears in The American Journal
of Medicine, Volume 119, Issue 9 (September 2006), a themed issue featuring
gastroenterology and nutrition, published by Elsevier.
The American Journal of Medicine
source: http://www.medicalnewstoday.com/medicalnews.php?newsid=50867&nfid=crss