Apple Juice Increases Levels of Acetylcholine in the Brain

Filed in archive Studies , Treatment on August 4, 2006

Apple juice is not a kid's drink anymore. Baby boomers and senior citizens should add apple juice to their diet because apple products can help boost brain function similar to medication.

How's that for bringing the "an apple a day...keeps the doctor away" line a notch higher?

Such is the finding of a new animal research from the University of Massachusetts Lowell (UML) which revealed that apple juice consumption may actually increase the production in the brain of the essential neurotransmitter acetylcholine, thereby resulting in improved memory.

Neurotransmitters such as acetylcholine are chemicals released from nerve cells that transmit messages to other nerve cells. Such communication between nerve cells is vital for good health, not just in the brain, but throughout the body.

"We anticipate that the day may come when foods like apples, apple juice and other apple products are recommended along with the most popular Alzheimer's medications," says Thomas Shea, Ph.D., director of the UML Center for Cellular Neurobiology and Neurodegeneration Research.

High levels of acetylcholine in the brain can help slow mental decline in people with Alzheimer's disease. This same hypothesis was used in the animal study which showed that consumption of antioxidant-rich apple juice had a comparable and beneficial effect.

Read more at UM-Lowell.