The Agricultural Research Service, a branch of the US Department of Agriculture, has reported findings from a study that seem to indicate that eating berries may protect the brain from age-related deficits through antioxidants.

Laboratory animals were fed berry extracts and then treated to accelerate the aging process. The researchers report that the animals fed the berry extracts were protected from damage to brain function.

The new findings add to a lineup of research studies published during the past eight years showing reduced, or in some cases reversed, declines in brain function among rats whose diets were supplemented with either blueberry, cranberry or strawberry extracts or Concord grape juice.

Neurobiology of Aging Abstract