Pass the Purple Stuff

Teetotalers, rejoice. Toasting with grape juice may carry brain-sparing benefits, according to research presented here 24 February at the World Parkinson's Congress. In a series of cognitive and motor tests, grape juice-drinking rats outshined their placebo-swilling counterparts, possibly due to an enhanced release of the neurotransmitter dopamine in the brain.

As many oenophiles are well aware, studies have found that drinking wine lowers the risk of heart disease, possibly by reducing blood pressure or countering the effects of "bad" (LDL) cholesterol. Similar effects have been shown for the dark purple Concord grape juice, which contains polyphenols, a class of antioxidants found in wines. But neuroscientist James Joseph of Tufts University in Boston, Massachusetts, and colleagues wanted to see if the compounds in grape juice might also serve to protect or preserve the brain--specifically, the elderly brain.