Here’s something unimportant that nobody knows about me: I must have cranberry sauce with my turkey. Roast turkey dinner, turkey club sandwiches, hot turkey sandwiches. There’s something missing if I can’t have that cranberry sauce with any of these. And it has to be jellied. There’s something about the sauce with the whole berries in it that offends my palate. It’s funny, too, because I do like dried cranberries and use them in chicken and turkey recipes.

I’ve never been a big fan of cranberry juice cocktail, but I will have it for breakfast in a restaurant if they don’t have fresh-squeezed orange juice. Oh, yes, I’m finicky about my oranges, too.
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My wife has been kidding me about my memory for as long as I can remember. This could go back more than 17 years, but I can’t be sure. The good news is that I have never had a photographic memory. Not even close. She, on the other hand, remembers things. She always has, always will.

So it is with a great deal of trepidation that I call to everyone’s attention a certain study that we featured at the recent ACS National Meeting & Exposition in Boston. I actually considered not telling my wife about it, but that’s not fair. Before I share the results, though, you need to know this: She eats large quantities of blueberries and strawberries every morning. In fact, she consumes more of these fruits in one breakfast sitting than I consume in six months. This may change for me… Now to the study:

Scientists have reported the first evidence that eating blueberries, strawberries, and acai berries may help the aging brain stay healthy in a crucial but previously unrecognized way. Their study, presented at the 240th National Meeting of the American Chemical Society, concluded that berries, and possibly walnuts, activate the brain’s natural “housekeeper” mechanism, which cleans up and recycles toxic proteins linked to age-related memory loss and other mental decline.

Shibu Poulose, Ph.D., who presented the report, said previous research suggested that one factor involved in aging is a steady decline in the body’s ability to protect itself against inflammation and oxidative damage. This leaves people vulnerable to degenerative brain diseases, heart disease, cancer, and other age-related disorders.

“The good news is that natural compounds called polyphenolics found in fruits, vegetables and nuts have an antioxidant and anti-inflammatory effect that may protect against age-associated decline,” said Poulose, who is with the U. S. Department of Agriculture-Agricultural Research Service (USDA-ARS) Human Nutrition Research Center on Aging in Boston. Poulose did the research with James Joseph, Ph.D., who died June 1. Joseph, who headed the laboratory, pioneered research on the role of antioxidants in fruits and nuts in preventing age-related cognitive decline.

Their past studies, for instance, showed that old laboratory rats fed for two months on diets containing 2 percent high-antioxidant strawberry, blueberry, or blackberry extract showed a reversal of age-related deficits in nerve function and behavior that involves learning and remembering.

To read more, go to berries and the brain.

Photo courtesy of Wikimedia Commons

Growing up in West Hartford, Conn., I lived about halfway between Boston and New York City. The drive was about an hour and 45 minutes to Boston and two and half-hours to Manhattan. About 90 percent of the time I chose the longer trip because I loved New York. I loved Broadway and the New York rye bread and the excitement.

Then, many years later I attended a meeting in Boston and by the second day, I realized what a mistake I had made. Boston, too, is a great town! As we start work for the American Chemical Society’s 240th National Meeting in Boston, some neat memories come back to me… 

First, of course, there’s the fresh lobster. Then, there are the historical sites:  The Freedom Trail, The North Church, Paul Revere’s House, and many more attractions. And then there’s Fenway Park, the home of the Red Sox, and one of the world’s most beautiful library buildings. I visit the Boston Public Library, McKim Building, at Copley Square every time I’m in town. It’s like walking into an architectural museum. You can spend an hour in that building without reading a book.
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I’m sitting in my cousin’s living room in the beautiful hills of Hillsborough, Calif., outside of San Francisco and my wife and I agree we must do the unthinkable: We must ask him to turn the heat thermostat higher. This request is coming from two people who hate hot weather and, in the winter, keep their home at 67 degrees by day and close to 60 at night. It is now noon in my cousin’s living room and the indoor thermometer is frozen at 62.

It turns out Phil and Arlene like it cold and they also like to save on energy. Going green is a good thing. And I am really impressed when Phil tells me the solar panels on their roof are more than 25 years old. They surely have been at the forefront of the energy-saving movement in this country. But since it’s springtime in California and we didn’t bring winter coats for this visit, he relents and turns the heat way up to 64 degrees.
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