Consuming a daily cup of cranberries can help improve memory and brain function, as well as lower LDL cholesterol, new research from the University of East Anglia in the United Kingdom, finds.
The research team investigated the impact of consuming cranberries daily for 12 weeks on brain function and cholesterol among 60 cognitively healthy 50-to-80-year-old participants. Half of the participants consumed freeze-dried cranberry powder, equivalent to a cup of fresh cranberries, daily. The other half consumed a placebo.
The results showed that consuming cranberries significantly improved the participants’ memory of everyday events (visual episodic memory), neural functioning and delivery of blood to the brain. The cranberry group also exhibited a significant decrease in LDL or ‘bad’ cholesterol levels, known to contribute to atherosclerosis — the thickening or hardening of the arteries caused by a build-up of plaque in the inner lining of an artery. This supports the idea that cranberries can improve vascular health and may in part contribute to the improvement in brain perfusion and cognition.
The researchers said they hope that their findings could have implications for the prevention of neurodegenerative diseases such as dementia.
“Dementia is expected to affect around 152 million people by 2050,” said lead researcher David Vauzour, Ph.D., from UEA’s Norwich Medical School. “There is no known cure, so it is crucial that we seek modifiable lifestyle interventions, such as diet, that could help lessen disease risk and burden.”
Full findings were published in Frontiers in Nutrition.
