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Polyphenols In Juice May Slash Risk of Alzheimer’s Disease by 75%

Unless you’ve been living under a rock the last couple of years, you know by now that antioxidants fight free radicals which cause disease and premature aging. Fruits and vegetables (and many brands of face creams too apparently) are rich in antioxidants and the vast majority of us need to eat a whole lot more of them. (Have you eaten your USDA recommended 7-11 servings of fruits and veggies today?)

But did you know that juicing is not just a fad invented by Jack LaLane so he could sell us his clunkly countertop machinery? Juicing is a long tradition for health nuts who know that although eating fruits and vegetables in their natural state does provide us with a substantial amount of vitamins and minerals, we only obtain the maximum benefits from them when they are juiced.

Now there’s one more reason to to incorporate juice into your daily routine - drinking fruit or vegetable juice no less than three times per week could cut your risk of Alzheimer’s by 75% according to a study published in The American Journal of Medicine (Vol. 119, pp. 751-759).

The results suggest that it is not the antioxidant vitamins (vitamins C, E and beta-carotene) but the antioxidant polyphenols that are behind the effects.

Although the mechanism of Alzheimer’s is not clear, more support is gathering for the build-up of plaque from beta-amyloid deposits. The deposits are associated with an increase in brain cell damage and death from oxidative stress. It is against the oxidative stress that the polyphenols appear to offer protection.

The benefit of the juice consumption also appeared enhanced in subjects who carried the apolipoprotein E epsilon-4 allele, a genetic marker linked to late-onset Alzheimer’s disease - the most common form of the disease, which typically occurs after the age of 65.

In other words, if the disease runs in your family, drinking juice is worth your time and money.

Harriet Millward, deputy chief executive of the Alzheimer’s Research Trust had this to say: “Many scientists believe there is a link between the release of free radicals within the body and early changes to brain cells in people who ultimately go on to develop Alzheimer’s disease. Since fruit and vegetable juices are rich in antioxidants which ‘mop up’ free radicals, this interesting piece of research adds weight to this theory.

Diet almost certainly plays a part in every person’s Alzheimer’s risk - and diet is a magnet for research because it could offer a relatively inexpensive way to fight a disease that ruins countless lives and costs the NHS more than cancer, stroke and heart disease put together.”

Nutrition experts have long looked to fruits and vegetables as a potential powerhouse for fighting ailments ranging from Alzheimer’s disease to cancer. More than 4,000 natural substances in fruits and vegetables have been identified as potential disease fighters, and more may still be discovered.

In the current study, researchers saw particular potential benefits from polyphenols, one of several groups of natural pigments that give fruits and vegetables their rainbow of colors. Polyphenols are found in many fruits and vegetables, particularly in the peels, and are particularly rich in green tea. They are potent antioxidants—some are even more powerful than vitamins C and E in fighting the cell-damaging effects caused by unstable free radicals. In the current study, the researchers found no relationship between consuming foods high in vitamins C and E or beta carotene and the risk for Alzheimer’s disease.

There are many juice products on the market today that seem to offer the convenience of getting these polyphenols into our diet three times per week. But one of the problems is that often times, their valuable nutrients are lost during the bottling process. Those most valuable parts of the foods (stems, skins, seeds, essential fatty acids) are clarified to make it look more appealing.

I don’t know about you, but I’ll drink ugly juice if it means I get me more of those polyphenols.

Another problem with juices readily available in the grocery store are added sugars, preservatives and flavors. The extra sugar means extra empty calories which may cause more harm than good.

The best way to juice is make your own using a wide variety of whole, natural, organic or wild fruits and vegetables. However, most of us don’t have the time to run to our farmer’s market each week and manage the volume and variety of produce required to get all of these valuable phytonutrients.

Enter the new trend for functional beverages, such as MonaVie, where high quality whole food juices are made from “super fruits” and all of the nutrients are retained through proprietary processing methods. And because customers are able to sign up for autoship, drinking juice daily becomes extremely convenient and habitual.

A representative from MonaVie had this to say about the value of drinking a wide variety of fruit from the full spectrum of colors:

Please remember that it is the phytonutrients that are what makes the MonaVie juice so valuable. Phytonutrients arenutrients concentrated in the skins of many vegetables and fruits, and are responsible for their color, hue, scent, and flavor. To a lesser extent, they are also found in grains and seeds.

People sometimes mistakenly believe phytonutrients are vitamins and/or minerals. In fact, they are pigments, or more precisely, the biologically active constituents of pigments. How can they benefit you? In the last few years, phytonutrients have been getting greater attention, as more and more research uncovers just how powerful these nutrients are for our health. They are potent antioxidants that can neutralize free radical damage. Free radicals are highly reactive chemical substances that, if left unchecked, can lead to premature aging and poor health.

Clinical trials are now revealing that phytonutrients can enhance the strength of the immune system, and may play a role in promoting good health and longevity. Other studies have shown that the phytonutrients in blueberries and bilberries slow brain aging and maintain healthy vision in vivo.

It has long been known that plant-based nutrients are among the most beneficial of foods to consume a great deal of and phytonutrients may hold the key to explaining why this is so.

MonaVie is a blend of fruits which have been chosen for their nutritional content. Açai, our star ingredient, is one of the world’s most powerful antioxidants. The benefits of antioxidants have been documented thousands of times over, but these benefits cannot be added to a nutritional facts or supplemental facts panel.

Now go on out there and drink a rainbow today!

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