Antioxidants And Brain Health

Your brain is your greatest asset but it is also yourWhat safeguards can healthy people take to reduce
body's most vulnerable organ. It requires constantrisk of diseases and especially to protect their brains
support from other major organs and is your mostfrom oxidative stress over a lifetime?
susceptible organ to oxidative stress during aging.The simplest answer is to follow a diet that includes
Here are some brain facts:abundant sources of antioxidant chemicals derived
1. Your brain makes up only 2% of your total bodyfrom plant foods. Evidence for the benefits of such a
weight but requires 20% of your heart's output ofdietary regimen has only been demonstrated in
blood to sustain the amount of oxygen that it needs.experiments with animals up until now, but the results
2. Your brain is the most oxygen-demanding organ inare convincing. Over the past eight years, the research
your body.activities of Dr. Jim Joseph of the US Department of
3. Your brain uses chemicals (neurotransmitters) toAgriculture, Boston, have focused on how to protect
relay important messages to other parts of your body.the brain from oxidative stress with dietary use of
These same chemicals are also involved in chemicalantioxidant-rich plants such as strawberries,
reactions that produce damaging free radicals.cranberries, elderberries, blueberries and spinach.
4. If your brain cells become weak or die they cannotDr. Joseph's research findings-a message closely
repair themselves. Their functions then can bepertinent to this essay-can best be represented by a
permanently lost if cell death or damage occurs.quote from one of his research reports in 1998:
Given these susceptibilities, your brain is especially"increased antioxidant protection through diets
vulnerable to conditions that threaten oxygen supply,comprised of fruits and vegetables identified as being
such as in head injury, stroke, lung diseases and hearthigh in total antioxidant activity might prevent or
failure. Under these conditions, brain activity will continuereverse the deleterious effects of oxidative stress on
even without enough oxygen. This can causeneurons."
problems that lead to extreme levels of oxidativeSummary: Oxidative stress is a major factor in brain
stress and the over-production of damaging freeaging. This stress can be combated or balanced by
radicals.including dietary antioxidants into your daily life. The
In diseases like Alzheimer's and Parkinson's, otherbest way to do this is by eating lots of colorful fruits
damaging factors are at work. In Alzheimer's disease,and vegetables each day.
a toxic protein called beta-amyloid, forms in your brainReading
tissue. This protein acts as an irritant and causes* Lau FC, Shukitt-Hale B, Joseph JA. The beneficial
inflammation in your brain. This inflammation theneffects of fruit polyphenols on brain aging. Neurobiol
causes the production of free radicals that canAging. 2005 Dec;26 Suppl 1:128-32.
destroy any membranes and cells in their path.* Joseph JA, Shukitt-Hale B, Denisova NA, Prior RL,
Parkinson's disease results from unregulatedCao G, Martin A, Taglialatela G, Bickford PC.
production of the brain chemical dopamine which, withLong-term dietary strawberry, spinach, or vitamin E
the help of free radicals, becomes toxic to the brainsupplementation retards the onset of age-related
cells that control your motor functions.neuronal signal-transduction and cognitive behavioral
Even in a healthy brain, oxygen radicals are produceddeficits.
every moment during normal high-oxygen demand ofJ Neurosci. 1998 Oct 1;18(19):8047-55.
neuronal activity. In a healthy brain, enzymes and* Joseph JA, Nadeau DA, Underwood A. The Color
nutritional antioxidants neutralize these radicals.Code. Hyperion, New York, 2002.
Benefits of Dietary AntioxidantsCopyright 2006 Berry Health Inc.