Eat berries to help prevent age related mental decline.

Strawberries, rasberries, blackberries, blueberries, whatever berry it is, ‘chomp away’ to keep that brain purring away efficiently.  This is the opinion of the Human Nutrition Research Center on Aging at Tufts University in the U.S. and published in Journal of Agricultural and Food Chemistry. Just in case you haven’t read this months copy (what you don’t subscribe?) the new research shows that berries reduce the effects of aging on the brain.

Wondering why berries are so beneficial? The American scientists have outlined the reasons for the prevention of degeneration:

• berries are high in anti-oxidants which prevent free radicals doing damage to cells.  In case you are wondering, free radicals are not some activist group like the Socialist Revolutionary Workers Party or CND (remember them?).  Nope, free radicals are atoms or groups of atoms with an odd number of electrons that go roaming about your body just waiting to cause chaos by damaging DNA or the cell membrane.  Quite why the odd number of electrons is significant is beyond me but free radicals might just prove darned expensive radicals - as in deadly expensive - causing cancer, aging and a variety of other diseases.  And you thought flippin’ Marxists were bad(!);
• berry fruits change the way neurons in the brain communicate. These changes in signalling can prevent inflammation in the brain that contribute to neuronal
  damage and improve both motor control and cognition.

OK, you are probably sorry you asked now but mental degeneration is a huge issue with the number of people in Britain suffering from dementia forecast to rise over 1 million in the next 10 years.

The Life Dept adds: dementia is the big cloud on the horizon with a relentless rise in sufferers as the population continues to age hence stuff that stops degeneration is of interest (especially to me!).

Alzheimer’s and other forms of dementia are covered with critical illness cover albeit it will be dependent on a doctor diagnosing it.  Diagnosis can be difficult especially in early onset.

Whilst it is true that most dementia sufferers are typically 70 and over it is a myth that it only affects the elderly.  Younger people can fall victim, including in rare cases, even children.  Dementia is a condition that can be prevented or delayed but cannot, presently, be cured.  The Life Dept has many stories in it’s archive about how to avoid dementia.

‘You never know when your number’s up!’  Get a quote now.

Written exclusively for THE LIFE & critical illness DEPT | 9 Mar 2012 | providers of life insurance, critical illness insurance and income protection cover.

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