A naturally occurring antioxidant found in strawberries could help treat age-related mental decline and conditions like Alzheimer’s or stroke.
Fisetin is an antioxidant found in strawberries that has been found to reduce cognitive deficits and inflammation associated with aging in mice.
Appearing this month in Journals of Gerontology Series A, the findings amplify previous research from the Salk Institute team.
The scientists fed 3-month-old prematurely aging mice a daily dose of fisetin with their food over seven months. Another group dined on the same food minus the fisetin. The mice took activity and memory tests (we’d pay to see that), and the team then analysed the proteins related to brain function, stress and inflammation response in the mice.
The mice not treated with fisetin had difficulties with all the cognitive tests and elevated markers of stress and inflammation. Mice treated with fisetin showed no decline and were not noticeably different in behavior, cognitive ability or inflammatory markers.
“Mice are not people, of course,” says Salk’s Pamela Maher, “But there are enough similarities that we think fisetin warrants a closer look, not only for potentially treating sporadic AD but also for reducing some of the cognitive effects associated with aging, generally.”
Strawberry season just got even better.
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