Wild Blueberry Jam, American Black Walnuts & Native Pecans, Wild Blueberry Syrup (photos by Rick Tango)

Eating well for better health is widely understood, but now some foods hailed for keeping your heart healthy could also make you smarter. According to a new study, diets rich in antioxidants may actually reverse age-related declines in cognitive behavior.

“Diets containing 2%, 6%, or 9% walnuts, when given to old rats, were found to reverse several parameters of brain aging, as well as age-related motor and cognitive deficits,” says James Joseph, PhD, of the U.S. Department of Agriculture Human Nutrition Research Center at Tufts University in Boston.

Findings from the studies by Dr. Joseph and his colleague Barbara Shukitt-Hale, PhD, show for the first time that shorter chain fatty acids found in plants, such as walnuts, may have beneficial effects for the brain similar to those from long chain fatty acids found in wild salmon and other deep, cold-water fish.

In previous research, Joseph and his colleagues showed that old rats maintained for two months on diets containing 2% high antioxidant strawberry or blueberry extracts exhibited reversals of age-related deficits in cognitive behavior. In the brain, antioxidant molecules wage war against molecules known as free radicals, which can harm brain cells. The present research shows that walnuts can have a similar effect.

Some of the most powerful antioxidants are highly concentrated in the deep-blue pigments of wild blueberries. USDA studies measured the antioxidant activity of more than 40 fruits and vegetables and ranked blueberries #1. Wild blueberries contain more antioxidants than their cultivated cousins.

To read the press release from the Society for Neuroscience on the topic go to: Diet of Walnuts, Blueberries Found to Improve Cognition

If you’d like to get smart with a purchase of jam crafted in small, hand-made batches of organically grown berries go to: Maine's Wild Blueberry Jam

If better thinking through baking & cooking with walnuts sounds right go to: Bakers Bounty! Fancy Large Premium Black Walnuts & Native Pecan Halves

To purchase a mind ehancing, smooth pouring, heavenly tasting syrup go to: Wild Blueberry Syrup

If a purchase of wild salmon sounds like a good route to great thinking go to: Alaskan Smoked Wild Sockeye Salmon