December 2003

Grape juice : the next anti-aging food?

Some doctors advocate a glass of red wine a day as a way to stay healthy and young. Grape juice may be nudging into its alcoholic cousin’s place of honor as an anti-aging food.

According to preliminary research presented at the 1st International Conference on Polyphenols and Health recently held in Vichy, France, consuming Concord grape juice significantly improved laboratory animals' short-term memory in a water maze test as well as their neuromotor skills in certain of the coordination, balance and strength tests, according to preliminary research.

"In the study we subjected 45 senescent rats — meaning they were mature animals approaching the end of their expected life spans--to a range of tests and challenges that are commonly-accepted methods of measuring changes in short-term memory and neuromotor skills," said James A. Joseph, PhD, chief of Neurosciences Laboratory, USDA Human Nutrition Research Center on Aging and lead researcher in the study. "Concord grape juice appeared to reduce or reverse the loss of sensitivity of muscarinic receptors, thus enhancing cognitive and some motor skills in the test animals. In many of the tests we saw significant improvements or trends toward improvement."

The memory test was the Morris water maze, an age-sensitive challenge that requires animals to use spatial learning to find a platform submerged 2 cm below the surface of a pool of water. Other tests measured the animals' ability to balance on a horizontal stationary rod; a rotating, slowly accelerating rod; and various sized planks, and their ability to hold onto a suspended wire and an inclined wire screen.

Researchers said they found similar effects in work done in blueberries.

The study was funded by the USDA Agricultural Research Service, the Michigan Department of Agriculture and a grant from Welch Foods Inc.

Source: Business Wire

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