Juice up your memory.
May 26th 2008 07:37
Signature Tune
Mehmet Oz, M.D. and Michael Roizen, M.D., Special to The Province
Published: Sunday, May 25, 2008
That long line of healthy-looking, just-got-out-of-yoga-class types at the local juice bar . . . Are they onto something? The juicer craze on late-night TV -- ditto?
If you want to prevent Alzheimer's, yes. Drinking pure juice regularly (it's great after a workout) seems to help you retain information -- where your spare keys are, what your anniversary date is and whether Britney really ever wound up in the slammer.
That's because juice is a rich source of polyphenols -- antioxidants that boost the level of an all-important brain chemical, acetylcholine. When levels of this chemical fall, memory and thinking start to go. (In fact, many Alzheimer's treatments aim at increasing the amount of acetylcholine in the brain.)
While drinking juice isn't the only way to defend against Alzheimer's -- just staying physically active is a powerful protector -- juice is a nifty way to keep acetylcholine high.
The memory-protecting benefits of any juice (orange juice, cranberry, Aunt Tillie's carrot-celery blend) take place as long as you drink it three times a week.
And you don't need a $100 gourmet juicer: Go ahead and drink from the carton (we won't tell) or order the pure stuff at a juice bar.
Just be leery of juice-bar specials -- some are higher in calories than doughnuts are -- and skip "juice cocktails" or "fruit drinks" at the grocery store. It's 100 per cent real juice you want, ideally with lots of pulp; all that fibre is an intestinal bonus.
If your juice taste runs to apple, ignore your visual instincts: Clear juice may look more appetizing, but it takes extra processing to make it that way. Cloudy has more nutrients.
Mike Roizen and Mehmet Oz are authors of the best-selling YOU: The Owner's Manual and YOU:
Brought to you from Real Age available free on the web
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