Researches are Convinced that Juice Prevents Blockages in the Arteries

Recently, researchers conducted an experiment that involved hamsters that were given water and hamsters who received juice in an amount that was comparable to four glasses daily for an individual who weighed approximately one hundred and fifty pounds. While other hamsters were apples or grapes with human equivalents of three apples a day or three bunches of grapes per day. Researchers studied how the fruits affected the risk of atherosclerosis in hamsters. Atherosclerosis has become a major health concern for humans in recent years due to unhealthy diet and lifestyle changes. Consequently, the results grapes and apples may beneficial in preventing atherosclerosis among humans as well.

Hamsters who received either fruit or juice had lower cholesterol, less aortic fat build-up, and less oxidative stress. The results of this study seem to suggest that there is a direct correlation between the amount of phenol contained in fruit and its antioxidant benefits.

The study revealed that apples and grapes had about the same phenol content while purple grape juice had more than double the phenol content of apples or grapes.

In fact, purple grape juice had the strongest antioxidant effect, followed by purple grapes, apple juice, and apples.

Antioxidants have long been considered to good for your health, however these findings seem to indicate that phenols and other antioxidants contained in fruit such as vitamin C and carotenoids may greatly affect an individual’s risk of heart attack and stroke.

Does Juice Consumption Reduce the Risk of Alzheimer’s Disease

Researchers in the United States have published the results of a ten year study that involved nearly two thousand individuals in the American Journal of Medicine, which investigated the affect of vegetable and fruit juice upon an individual’s risk of developing Alzheimer’s disease. Researchers found that individuals who drank juice more than three times per week were more than seventy five percent less likely to develop Alzheimer’s disease.

Recent studies have linked Alzheimer’s disease to the build up of beta-amyloid protein in the brain. Some studies have suggested that polyphenols contained in fruits and vegetables may slow the process that creates beta-amyloid clumps in the brain. Researchers believe that the phenols contained in fruit and vegetables may somehow disrupt the process that creates clumps of beta-amyloid protein in the brain. While other scientists have put forth a theory that free radicals contained with in the body and brain may be associated with the onset of Alzheimer’s disease. Fruits and vegetables are rich in antioxidants neutralize free radicals within in the body; consequently the findings of this study may strengthen the belief that free radicals cause the early brain cell changes that lead to the onset of Alzheimer disease.

No matter what theory you subscribe too, diet is key in every individual’s risk of Alzheimer’s disease. Researchers hope that diet may become an inexpensive way to prevent the development of a disease that devastates individuals’ lives and costs the national health system more than stroke, heart disease and cancer combined.

Perhaps, the results of this study will encourage family doctors to pass on this information to their patients who are at high risk for Alzheimer’s disease.