Concord grape juice improved memory and neuro-motor skills in animal study

Grape juice joins blueberries as possible anti-aging ’brain food’

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

“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 neuro-motor skills,” says James A. Joseph, Ph.D., Chief, 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. Rats fed a 10% solution of Concord grape juice found the platform in roughly 20% less time than the control group. 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. Some of those tests saw improvements in either or both of the group consuming a 10% solution of Concord grape juice and the group consuming a 50% solution.

“The Concord grape juice findings are not surprising,” explains Joseph. “We have seen similar effects in the work we’ve done in blueberries.”

The researchers point to several factors as potential mechanisms of action, including increased dopamine production and a potent overall antioxidant effect. According to previously published USDA studies, Concord grape juice has the highest total antioxidants of any fruits, vegetables or juices tested.

“As our population ages, we are continually looking for ways to maintain our mental and physical skills,” notes Joseph. “While these laboratory animal studies are certainly preliminary and much more work needs to be done, we know that consuming high levels of natural dietary antioxidants is a good thing from a number of perspectives. And it appears that drinking Concord grape juice has the potential to help retard the mental and physical declines of aging.”

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

Media Contact

Julie McQuain EurekAlert!

All latest news from the category: Studies and Analyses

innovations-report maintains a wealth of in-depth studies and analyses from a variety of subject areas including business and finance, medicine and pharmacology, ecology and the environment, energy, communications and media, transportation, work, family and leisure.

Back to home

Comments (0)

Write a comment

Newest articles

Lighting up the future

New multidisciplinary research from the University of St Andrews could lead to more efficient televisions, computer screens and lighting. Researchers at the Organic Semiconductor Centre in the School of Physics and…

Researchers crack sugarcane’s complex genetic code

Sweet success: Scientists created a highly accurate reference genome for one of the most important modern crops and found a rare example of how genes confer disease resistance in plants….

Evolution of the most powerful ocean current on Earth

The Antarctic Circumpolar Current plays an important part in global overturning circulation, the exchange of heat and CO2 between the ocean and atmosphere, and the stability of Antarctica’s ice sheets….

Partners & Sponsors