Protection Against Strokes

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Eating plenty of blueberries may significantly lessen brain damage from strokes and other neurological disorders, suggests a study published in the May 2005 issue of the Journal of Experimental Neurology.

Neuroscientists at the University of South Florida College of Medicine, James A. Haley Veterans' Hospital and the National Institute on Drug Abuse found that rats fed diets enriched with blueberries, spinach or spirulina (a type of algae) suffered the loss of much fewer brain cells and
recovered significantly more of their ability to move following a stroke.

The researchers studied four groups of rats. All were fed equal amounts of food for one month. The control (untreated) group ate chow only. A second group was given rat chow supplemented with blueberries, the third got chow with spinach, and the fourth received chow with spirulina.
After four weeks, an ischemic stroke with reperfusion was induced in the rats. (An ischemic stroke occurs when a blood clot blocks an artery, cutting off the supply of oxygen to the brain with the result that brain cells can be severely damaged and die). When the clot is cleared, the pent up
oxygenated blood quickly rushes back in. Known as reperfusion, this restoration of blood flow can also result in brain damage as it causes cellular swelling, edema and the production of free radicals.

Rats given blueberry or spinach along with their chow, however, were protected: the size of the area of their brains damaged by the stroke was half that seen in the brains of the control rats. Rats fed spirulina-enriched diets did even better; their stroke lesions were 75 per cent smaller
than those of controls. In addition, but not surprisingly, rats pretreated with the blueberry, spinach or spirulina diets also showed regained more of their abilities to move after the stroke than rats in the control group. Neuroscientists think the reason for the improved outcome in blueberry,
spinach or algae-treated rats is the same as that demonstrated in previous University of  Florida/Veterans Administration research, which revealed that diets enriched with blueberries, spinach or spirulina reversed normal age-related declines in memory and learning in old rats. All
these foods are exceptionally rich in antioxidants, which neuroscientists believe able to largely counteract the burst of free radicals triggered in brain cells by an ischemic stroke. It is this sudden excessive production of free radicals that damages the lipids, proteins and DNA in brain cells,
causing their death.

Several ingredients in blueberries, including their flavonoids and anthocyanins, have been shown to have strong antioxidant activity. Similar to blueberry, spinach leaves also contain high levels of antioxidants flavonoids, p-coumaric acid, 9-cis-β-carotene, and other water-soluble natural
antioxidants. Just how powerful these compounds are is suggested by the fact that blueberries and spinach were each given as only 2% of the two supplemented rat diets.