Scientists speculate that the antioxidants in juice...

HEALTH & FITNESS HEALTH CHECK Robyn Shelton Robyn Shelton
Juicy news could help your brain
Published September 5, 2006


Pour yourself a glass of juice. It might be good for your brain.

A new study has found that people who drank fruit or vegetable juice at least three times a week were far less likely to develop Alzheimer's disease.

Three or more glasses meant a 76 percent decrease in risk -- one or two glasses weekly led to a 16 percent reduction.

"These findings are new and suggest that fruit and vegetable juices may play an important role in delaying the onset of Alzheimer's disease," lead researcher Qi Dai writes in the report, published in The American Journal of Medicine.

But why? Scientists speculate that the antioxidants in juice might prevent the brain from forming the tangled clumps of protein that are found in Alzheimer's patients.

Even so, it's too early to stock the refrigerator with those little juice boxes. Dai, who is from Vanderbilt University, says previous research on antioxidants has not found a benefit against Alzheimer's. He says more research is needed to confirm his group's findings.

The current research, which also involved scientists from the University of South Florida in Tampa, focused on nearly 2,000 Japanese Americans living in Washington state. The participants answered questionnaires about their eating and drinking habits periodically as they were tracked from 1992 through 2001 for signs of dementia.


Robyn Shelton can be reached at 407-420-5487 or rshelton@orlandosentinel.com.