Can blueberries and spinach restore brainpower?  

Want to remember your bank card PIN or where you left your car at the mall? Try blueberries and spinach. Recent work presented at the Society for Neuroscience meeting in Los Angeles showed that when scientists gave old rats blueberry or spinach extract supplements daily (equal to your eating 1 cup of blueberries or 2 cups of raw spinach every day), the animals showed reversals in memory declines.  

Their brain cells were able to communicate better, and they performed better on memory tests than rats who didn't get spinach or blueberries. Strawberries helped too, but not as much.  

What's the Secret?  
Lead scientist James Joseph, PhD, chief of neuroscience at Tufts University Research Center on Aging in Boston, thinks its the abundant antioxidants, especially flavonoids, in spinach and blueberries. Flavonoids reduce inflammation, a process that may impair brain tissue as we age. 
 
 50    PREVENTION / MARCH 1999