Are Fruit & Vegetable Extract Supplements Worth It?
10almonds is reader-supported. We may, at no cost to you, receive a portion of sales if you purchase a product through a link in this article.
At 10almonds we are always extolling the virtues of fruits and vegetables, but how much do those benefits still exist when we’re looking at a fruit and vegetable extract supplement?
We examined one aspect of this previously, here;
Mediterranean Diet… In A Pill?
This looked at getting the anti-inflammatory benefits of the Mediterranean diet, in supplement form, by providing extracts of 16 key plant extracts—which also provides an excellent shopping list, by the way, if you just want to skip the supplements and buy those plants; if nine top scientists (anti-aging specialists, neurobiologists, pharmacologists, and at least one professor of applied statistics) came to the conclusion that to get the absolute most bang-for-buck possible, those are the plants to get the phytochemicals from, then we’re not going to ignore that!
And yes, the short answer was “it does very significantly improve anti-inflammatory markers”, by the way.
But when it comes to benefits from polyphenols, anti-inflammatory powers are very much “low-hanging fruit”, so to speak. It’s the “fork found in kitchen” level of shocking revelation. It’s what polyphenols are best at (tied with antioxidant powers, which directly mediate their anti-inflammatory powers).
So, what about something more challenging, like brain benefits?
Underrated Brain Boosters
A European research team (Dr. Begoña Cerdá et al.) looked at the effects of polyphenol-rich nutraceuticals (plant extracts) on cognitive function and neuroprotection biomarkers.
It was a randomized, crossover, double-blind, sex-stratified, placebo-controlled clinical trial that had people take the supplement or a placebo for 16 weeks, have a 4-week washout phase (to minimize leftover effects contaminating the data) and then switching groups (still blinded to the placebo control) for 16 weeks.
They tested cognitive function and neuroprotection biomarkers in various ways before and after each of the testing phases (so, four testing sessions in total per person: before and after the supplement + before and after the placebo).
The results:
❝The results suggested that participants who consumed the polyphenol-rich nutraceutical demonstrated significant improvements in cognitive performance compared to the placebo group.
The Stroop Test scores indicated enhanced attention and inhibitory control, while RIST results suggested improvements in logical reasoning and memory. The Trail Making Test also revealed increased cognitive flexibility, highlighting the supplement’s potential to boost overall mental agility.
Furthermore, the ELISA results showed a notable increase in BDNF and CREB levels among participants who took the active supplement. BDNF is a protein that is essential for neuronal growth and survival, and its levels were significantly elevated, reinforcing its role in synaptic plasticity and long-term memory formation.
Additionally, CREB, a transcription factor involved in learning processes, also showed increased levels, supporting its function in cognitive enhancement.
Importantly, the correlation between improved test scores and higher biomarker levels suggested that polyphenols may directly influence brain function rather than merely offering general health benefits.
While the study focused on healthy adults, the findings also raised questions about whether similar interventions could benefit populations at risk for cognitive decline, including older adults and individuals with neurodegenerative conditions.❞
Key to abbreviations:
- RIST = Reynolds Intellectual Screening Test
- ELISA = Enzyme-Linked ImmunoSorbent Assays
- BDNF = Brain-Derived Neurotrophic Factor
- CREB = cAMP-Response Element Binding Protein
- cAMP = Cyclic Adenosine MonoPhosphate
Source: Daily fruit and vegetable extracts may boost brain power ← we quoted a pop-sci article for the above summary, for easier readability while still having the critical conclusions in one place
For those who do want to dive into the actual data and a lot more detail about the study methodology (which is well worth reading if you have the time, as it’s very good), here is the actual study:
If nothing else, be aware that the usual benchmark for statistical significance is p < 0.05, whereas the results in this study ranged from p < 0.01 to p < 0.001, in other words, ranging from 5x more significant than is required to be called “significant”, to 50x more significant than is required to be called “significant”.
In fewer words: impressively significant
In lay terms: the scientists are about as sure as scientists ever get about anything, that this supplement produces significant results
What was the supplement they tested?
Good news! It was…
- a commercially available supplement (JuicePlus), which is convenient, because it means we (and you, dear reader) can get it if we so choose
- not paid for by JuicePlus or anyone associated with them (indeed, the funding declaration on the study is “This research received no external funding”), so not subject to any conflict of interest that might introduce bias into the study
As for why they chose that one:
❝A unique aspect of the polyphenol-rich nutraceutical evaluated in this study lies in its composition, which integrates a blend of fruit, vegetable, and berry juice powders.
This product, Juice Plus+ Premium®, contains over 119 distinct polyphenolic compounds, including flavanols, anthocyanins, and flavones, as demonstrated in prior compositional analyses.
Compared to other polyphenol-based interventions, this nutraceutical stands out due to its comprehensive formulation, combining a wide range of bioactive compounds with complementary antioxidant and neuroprotective effects.
These characteristics ensure a more diverse interaction with neurobiological pathways, including those related to oxidative stress mitigation, synaptic plasticity, and cognitive function❞
Source: Ibid. (it’s in the introduction)
Want to try some?
We don’t sell it, but for your convenience, here’s where to get JuicePlus supplements Amazon 😎
Enjoy!
Don’t Forget…
Did you arrive here from our newsletter? Don’t forget to return to the email to continue learning!
Recommended
Learn to Age Gracefully
Join the 98k+ American women taking control of their health & aging with our 100% free (and fun!) daily emails:
-
Walking… Better.
10almonds is reader-supported. We may, at no cost to you, receive a portion of sales if you purchase a product through a link in this article.
Walking… Better.
We recently reviewed “52 Ways To Walk” by Annabel Streets. You asked us to share some more of our learnings from that book, and… Obviously we can’t do all 52, nor go into such detail, but here are three top tips inspired by that book…
Walk in the cold!
While cold weather is often seen as a reason to not walk, in fact, it has numerous health benefits, the most exciting of which might be:
Walking in the cold causes us to convert white and yellow fat into the healthier brown fat. If you didn’t know about this, neither did scientists until about 15 years ago.
In fact, scientists didn’t even know that adult humans could even have brown adipose tissue! It was really quite groundbreaking.
In case you missed it: The Changed Metabolic World with Human Brown Adipose Tissue: Therapeutic Visions
Work while you walk!
Obviously this is only appropriate for some kinds of work… but if in your life you have any kind of work that is chiefly thinking, a bunch of it can be done while walking.
Open your phone’s note-taking app, lock the screen and pocket your phone, and think on some problem that you need to solve. Whenever you have an “aha” moment, take out your phone and make a quick note on the go.
For that matter, if you have the money and space (or are fortunate to have an employer disposed towards facilitating such), you could even set up a treadmill desk… At worst, it wouldn’t harm your work (and it’ll be a LOT better than sitting for so long).
Walk within an hour of waking!
No, this doesn’t mean that if you don’t get out of the house within 60 minutes you say “Oh no, missed the window, guess it’s a day in today”
But it does mean: in the evening, make preparations to head out first thing in the morning. Set out your clothes and appropriate footwear, find your flask to fill with the beverage of your choice in the morning and set that with them.
Then, when morning arrives… do your morning necessaries (e.g. some manner of morning ablutions and perhaps a light breakfast), make that drink for your flask, and hit the road.
Why? We’ll tell you a secret:
You ever wondered why some people seem to be more able to keep a daylight-regulated circadian rhythm than others? It’s not just about smartphones and coffees…
This study found that getting sunlight (not electric light, not artificial sunlight, but actual sunlight, from the sun, even if filtered through partial cloud) between 08:30—09:00 resulted in higher levels of a protein called PER2. PER2 is critical for setting circadian rhythms, improving metabolism, and fortifying blood vessels.
Besides, on a more simplistic level, it’s also a wonderful and energizing start to a healthy and productive day!
Read: Beneficial effects of daytime light exposure on daily rhythms, metabolic state and affect
Share This Post
-
Healthy Cook’s Anti-Inflammatory Diet & Cookbook – by Dr. Albert Orbinati
10almonds is reader-supported. We may, at no cost to you, receive a portion of sales if you purchase a product through a link in this article.
Chronic inflammation is a root cause of very many illnesses, and exacerbates almost all the ones it doesn’t cause. So, reducing inflammation is a very good way to stay well in general, reducing one’s risk factors for very many other diseases.
Dr. Orbinati starts by giving advice for adjusting to an anti-inflammatory diet, including advice on trying an elimination diet, if you suspect an undiagnosed allergy/intolerance.
Thereafter, he gives guidance on pantry-stocking—not just what anti-inflammatory foods to include and what inflammatory foods to skip, but also, what food and nutrient pairings are particularly beneficial, like how black pepper and turmeric are both anti-inflammatory by themselves, but the former greatly increases the bioavailability of the latter if consumed together.
The rest of the book—aside from assorted appendices, such as 8 pages of scientific references—is given over to the recipes.
The recipes themselves are, obviously, anti-inflammatory in focus. As one might expect, therefore, most are vegetarian and many are vegan, but we do find many recipes with chicken and fish as well; there’s also some use of eggs and fermented dairy in some of the recipes too.
The book certainly does deliver on its promise of flavorful healthy food; that’s what happens when one includes a lot of herbs and spices in one’s cooking, as well as the fact that many other polyphenol-rich foods are, by nature, tasty in and of themselves.
Bottom line: if you’d like to expand your anti-inflammatory culinary repertoire, this book is a top-tier choice for that.
Click here to check out Healthy Cook’s Anti-Inflammatory Diet & Cookbook, and spice up your kitchen!
Share This Post
-
Mid-Life Weight Loss’s Hidden Cost To The Brain
10almonds is reader-supported. We may, at no cost to you, receive a portion of sales if you purchase a product through a link in this article.
For most people in the US, losing weight is generally considered a health-positive thing, unless one is underweight to begin with, of course—but then, “underweight to begin with” is already not “most people in the US”.
However, there can be costs.
When less is not always more
We’ve written before about how a lot of mainstream belief presupposes thinness as desirable, and presumes it to be healthy, which frankly, it’s not for everyone. Indeed, for people over a certain age, having a BMI that’s slightly into the “overweight” category is a protective factor against mortality:
When BMI Doesn’t Quite Measure Up
It now seems that there are also such considerations when it comes to brain health. Generally speaking, have a high body fat percentage will tend to put a strain on the heart, and what’s bad for the heart is bad for the brain, because the latter relies on the former to provide it with a healthy flow of blood bearing oxygen and nutrients, and ultimately take away detritus once the glymphatic system has got it out of the brain itself (having a good glymphatic system and poor circulation is an unlikely combination, but if it somehow occurred, the result would be much like if you empty the trash from your house but there’s no municipal service to come pick it up and take it away).
For more on that, see:
- What’s Your Vascular Dementia Risk? ← for the brain-heart connection in general
- How To Clean Your Brain (Glymphatic Health Primer) ← for what we just talked about
- Take Care Of Your Lymphatic System To Beat Cognitive Decline ← because this too plays a part (an indirect part, but an important one nevertheless)
Fat & neuroinflammation
It is known that metabolic dysfunction (as is strongly associated with fat storage in the liver, visceral fat, and less importantly, subcutaneous fat deposits), is a driver of inflammation in general, which in turn makes the metabolic dysfunction worse.
Poorly regulated or persistent brain inflammation has been linked to memory impairment and neurodegenerative diseases such as Alzheimer’s, which is why research has been done into how midlife weight loss might interact with long-term brain health.
Most recently, a mouse study found: Weight loss aggravates obesity-induced hypothalamic inflammation in mid-aged mice
Now, that’s a mouse study and not too exciting in and of itself, but the underlying science is quite applicable, because as it turns out:
❝Combined overconsumption of fat and sugar, but not the overconsumption of fat per se, leads to excessive CML production in hypothalamic neurons, which, in turn, stimulates hypothalamic inflammatory responses such as microgliosis and eventually leads to neuronal dysfunction in the control of energy metabolism.❞
Read in full: Dietary sugars, not lipids, drive hypothalamic inflammation
Which becomes further relevant when: Diet triggers specific responses of hypothalamic astrocytes in time and region dependent manner
Now, that’s about diet, but what of weight loss itself? What if you don’t change your diet but you lose weight for some other reason (intentionally or otherwise; perhaps you changed your exercise routine, perhaps you got ill, etc)?
The short answer is: stability of weight is generally better than strong fluctuation in either direction
Now, this one’s about men rather than mice, so its applicability to women (most of our readers) is not as strong as if it were about women, but it’s worth bearing in mind in any case. It looked at 1,160 men aged 40–59 years at the start of the experiment, and was then a prospective study, i.e. looking at the next 15 years of follow-up, and found:
❝Results: Overall, 183 deaths were observed among the 505 men. Only weight fluctuations had a clear significant impact on all-cause mortality. Adjusted hazard rate ratio (HRR (95%-CI)) was 1.86 (1.31-2.66) after adjustment for age group, pre-existing cardiovascular disease or diabetes mellitus, smoking and socio-economic status. The risk rate due to weight loss was borderline significant (HRR = 1.81 (0.99-3.31)). Risk of death due to weight gain (HRR = 1.15 (0.70-1.88)) or stable obesity (HRR = 1.16 (0.69-1.94)), however, were not significantly increased compared to men staying non-obese for the first 15 years after cohort recruitment.
Conclusion: Weight fluctuations are a major risk factor for all-cause mortality in middle-aged men. Moreover, stable obesity does not increase further mortality in men aged 55-74 years in long-term follow-up.❞
Read in full: Weight change, weight cycling and mortality in the ERFORT Male Cohort Study
So, in other words, even beyond brain health, and even for all-cause mortality, stable is best.
Want to learn more?
You might like this book that we reviewed a while back:
“You Just Need to Lose Weight” And 19 Other Myths About Fat People – by Aubrey Gordon
Take care!
Share This Post
Related Posts
-
Be Your Future Self Now – by Dr. Benjamin Hardy
10almonds is reader-supported. We may, at no cost to you, receive a portion of sales if you purchase a product through a link in this article.
Affirmations in the mirror are great and all, but they can only get you so far! And if you’re a regular reader of our newsletter, you probably know about the power of small daily habits adding up and compounding over time. So what does this book offer, that’s different?
“Be Your Future Self Now” beelines the route “from here to there”, with a sound psychological approach. On which note…
The book’s subtitle mentions “the science of intentional transformation”, and while Dr. Hardy is a psychologist, he’s an organizational psychologist (which doesn’t really pertain to this topic). It’s not a science-heavy book, but it is heavy on psychological rationality.
Where Dr. Hardy does bring psychology to bear, it’s in large part that! He teaches us how to overcome our biases that cause us to stumble blindly into the future… rather than intentfully creating our own future to step into. For example:
Most people (regardless of age!) acknowledge what a different person they were 10 years ago… but assume they’ll be basically the same person 10 years from now as they are today, just with changed circumstances.
Radical acceptance of the inevitability of change is the first step to taking control of that change.
That’s just one example, but there are many, and this is a book review not a book summary!
In short: if you’d like to take much more conscious control of the direction your life will take, this is a book for you.
Click here to get your copy of “Be Your Future Self Now” from Amazon!
Don’t Forget…
Did you arrive here from our newsletter? Don’t forget to return to the email to continue learning!
Learn to Age Gracefully
Join the 98k+ American women taking control of their health & aging with our 100% free (and fun!) daily emails:
-
Cranberries vs Gooseberries – Which is Healthier?
10almonds is reader-supported. We may, at no cost to you, receive a portion of sales if you purchase a product through a link in this article.
Our Verdict
When comparing cranberries to gooseberries, we picked the gooseberries.
Why?
It wasn’t close:
In terms of macros, cranberries have more carbs while gooseberries have more fiber, so that’s a win for gooseberries. A nominal win as the differences aren’t huge, but clear enough to be a win nevertheless.
In the category of vitamins, cranberries have more vitamin E, while gooseberries have more of vitamins A, B1, B2, B3, B5, B6, B7, B9, and C, winning easily.
Looking at minerals next, cranberries have more manganese, while gooseberries have more calcium, copper, iron, magnesium, phosphorus, potassium, selenium, and zinc, scoring their third win in a row by quite a margin.
In other considerations, cranberries have some special properties that amount to a mixed bag of pros and cons (see details in the “learn more” below), while gooseberries are higher in polyphenols. Since cranberries have good and bad things in this round while gooseberries have just good, we say gooseberries in this round, too.
Adding up the sections makes for a clear overall win for gooseberries, but by all means enjoy either or both, as diversity is best (unless one of the contraindications for cranberries applies, in which case, skip those)!
Want to learn more?
You might like:
Health Benefits Of Cranberries (But: You’d Better Watch Out) ← cranberries’ bonus properties (including: famously very good at decreasing UTI risk) come with some warnings, including that they may increase the risk of kidney stones if you are prone to such, and also that cranberries have anti-clotting effects, which are great for heart health but can be a risk of you’re on blood thinners or have a bleeding disorder.
Enjoy!
Don’t Forget…
Did you arrive here from our newsletter? Don’t forget to return to the email to continue learning!
Learn to Age Gracefully
Join the 98k+ American women taking control of their health & aging with our 100% free (and fun!) daily emails:
-
Should Men Over 50 Get PSA?
10almonds is reader-supported. We may, at no cost to you, receive a portion of sales if you purchase a product through a link in this article.
It’s Q&A Day at 10almonds!
Have a question or a request? You can always hit “reply” to any of our emails, or use the feedback widget at the bottom!
In cases where we’ve already covered something, we might link to what we wrote before, but will always be happy to revisit any of our topics again in the future too—there’s always more to say!
As ever: if the question/request can be answered briefly, we’ll do it here in our Q&A Thursday edition. If not, we’ll make a main feature of it shortly afterwards!
So, no question/request too big or small
❝Loved the information on prostate cancer. Do recommend your readers get a PSA or equivalent test annually for over 50 yr old men.❞
(This is about: Prostate Health: What You Should Know)
Yep, or best yet, the much more accurate PSE test! But if PSA test is what’s available, it’s a lot better than nothing. And, much as it’s rarely the highlight of anyone’s day, a prostate exam by a suitably qualified professional is also a good idea.
Don’t Forget…
Did you arrive here from our newsletter? Don’t forget to return to the email to continue learning!
Learn to Age Gracefully
Join the 98k+ American women taking control of their health & aging with our 100% free (and fun!) daily emails:
