From:
http://www.cbsnews.com/stories/2006/08/31/health/webmd/main1 955402.shtml
Drinking fruit or vegetable juice every other day may keep Alzheimer's disease away.
A new study shows people who drank fruit and vegetable juices more
than three times a week were 76 percent less likely to develop
Alzheimer's disease than those who drank juices less than once a week.
Researchers say the results suggest that a class of antioxidants
found in fruit and vegetable juices called polyphenols may have a
protective effect on the brain and help fight dementia and Alzheimer's
disease.
Polyphenols are found in fruits and vegetables, primarily in the skins and peels, and are abundant in juices, teas, and wine.
Juice Fights Alzheimer's DiseaseIn the study, published in The American Journal of Medicine,
researchers followed nearly 2,000 Japanese-American adults from King
County, Wash., for 10 years. The participants were aged 65 or older and
were free of signs of Alzheimer's or dementia at the start of the
study. Self-reported dietary information was obtained from 1,589 of the
adults. The average age of this group was 72 years at the start of the
study.
Previous studies show Japanese adults living in Japan have a lower
incidence of Alzheimer's disease. But Japanese people living in the
U.S. have higher rates of the disease, which suggests that
environmental factors such as diet and lifestyle may play an important
role in the development of Alzheimer's disease.
After adjusting for possible confounding factors, like smoking,
educational status, and physical activity, the researchers found people
who drank fruit and vegetable juices more than three times a week had a
76 percent lower risk of probable Alzheimer's disease compared with
those who drank juice less than once a week. Drinking fruit or
vegetable juice once or twice a week was associated with a 16 percent
lower risk.
In addition, the study showed the protective benefits of juice
appeared to be particularly enhanced in people who had a genetic marker
linked to an increased risk of Alzheimer's disease known as
apolipoprotein E C%-4 allele.
They also found no relationship between dietary intake of vitamins
C and E, beta carotene, or tea and the risk for Alzheimer's disease.
Researchers say these results are only preliminary and more study
is needed to confirm the relationship between polyphenols and
Alzheimer's disease. Other recent studies looking at diet and
supplement use with risk for Alzheimer's disease have not been
consistent.
They say the next step will be to determine which fruit and vegetables juices might provide the biggest protective benefits.
"We don't know if it is a specific type of juice [that reduces
risk]. That information was not collected in the current study," says
researcher Qi Dai, M.D., Ph.D., of Vanderbilt School of Medicine, in a
news release.
This study was supported by the National Institute on Aging.
