Avoid memory loss - hop into the red wine during middle age

Worried about memory loss in old age? Then hop into the red wine during middle age. New research published by a faculty member in the Texas A&M Health Science Center College of Medicine, Ashok K. Shetty, Ph.D., shows the potential benefit of resveratrol, an antioxidant that is found in the skin of red grapes, as well as in red wine, peanuts and some berries.

To put it in the careful language of the scientist in Dr Shetty's paper

Our results in a rat model of aging provide novel evidence that four weeks of daily RESV treatment in late middle age is efficacious for improving cognitive, memory and mood function in old age. Additional analyses demonstrated that improved cognitive and mood function following RESV treatment is linked with amelioration of several age-related changes such as decreased neurogenesis and microvasculature and low-level chronic inflammation in the hippocampus. These results suggest that RESV therapy in middle age is beneficial for maintaining normal memory and mood function in old age.

In more popuilar language as reported on the Medical Press website:

"The results of the study were striking," Shetty said. "They indicated that for the control rats who did not receive resveratrol, spatial learning ability was largely maintained but ability to make new spatial memories significantly declined between 22 and 25 months. By contrast, both spatial learning and memory improved in the resveratrol-treated rats."
Shetty said neurogenesis (the growth and development of neurons) approximately doubled in the rats given resveratrol compared to the control rats. The resveratrol-treated rats also had significantly improved microvasculature, indicating improved blood flow, and had a lower level of chronic inflammation in the hippocampus.
"The study provides novel evidence that resveratrol treatment in late middle age can help improve memory and mood function in old age," Shetty said.