Why I’m extra sold on antioxidant-rich foods

People talk a lot about how great it is to eat foods high in antioxidants, but I feel like a lot of the time the buck stops there. Antioxidants are “good;” in theory they’re thought to neutralize free radicals; and many are believed to fight cancer. Nice stuff, but not especially “show me the money.”

If you think similarly, here’s the study for you: Research in December’s Journal of Alzheimer’s Disease showed that a diet rich in polyphenols–the broadest class of antioxidants, believed to give olive oil, red wine, chocolate, and green tea their powerful health benefits (you can also find them in countless fruits, vegetables, some grains–and even, as Camille’s noted, popcorn)–led both to the generation of new brain neurons and the strengthening of existing ones. And it gets better…

When rats who’d been fed a polyphenol-rich diet were exposed to very concentrated amounts of the toxin hydrogen peroxide, they experienced little-to-no cell damage (brain and otherwise). Rats who hadn’t gotten the polyphenols, by contrast, had a full 40 percent of their cells killed. The scientists concluded that a diet high in polyphenol antioxidants could be a critical way to preserve and protect the aging brain (which not only tends to slow down its neuron production, but also is uniquely susceptible to environmental damage).

(While I’m at it, I’ll throw in another piece of fun news: Another December study, this one in the British Journal of Nutrition, found that the polyphenols in dark chocolate seemed to protect DNA from damage, a process that tended to take effect almost immediately after consumption. Yum.)