# Rats become smarter if they eat blueberries.



## kawaiikitsune (Oct 9, 2009)

Found this here -> http://articles.mercola.com/sites/articles/archive/2008/01/02/blueberries-reverse-aging.aspx

Blueberries Reverse Certain Aging Characteristics
Posted by: Dr. Mercola 
January 02 2008 | 6,828 views

Forget Viagra. Forget red wine. Anyone seeking to really feel young again should try blueberries, research on rats suggests. Old rats fed the equivalent of a cup of blueberries a day not only were more coordinated, but were smarter than other old rats. Researchers are now working to find out just what it is in blueberries that repairs the damage ageing does to the brain. In the meantime, they are eating blueberries themselves.

Researchers found that rats fed spinach and strawberries learned better than rats on a standard diet. Then they threw a blueberry extract into the diet. The rats who got the supplement not only learned faster than other rats, but their motor skills improved.

There were a lot of changes in neuronal communication ? the ability of one neuron to communicate with one another, but what struck the researchers was the ability to change motor behavior. There is virtually nothing out there that can change motor behavior in ageing. But the blueberries did.

The rats were 19 months old, they are the equivalent of 60 to 65 years of age and the researchers feed them for two months so they're up to 70-75. The blueberry fed rats did better on standard rat tests, like making them swim in a water maze, or find an underwater platform in murky water. But they also did better on tests involving a spinning rod or an inclined rod ? good tests of coordination.

Young rats six months old could stay on a rod an average of 14 seconds. Old rats fell off after six seconds, but the blueberry-supplemented old rats could stay on for 10. The blueberries did not make the rats young again, but did improve their skills considerably. When the rats' brains were examined, the brain cells of the rats that got the blueberries communicated better.

The researchers are doing tests to see what compounds in the blueberries are responsible for the effects. Other scientists have found that the components that give fruits and vegetables their color ? such as the lycopene that makes tomatoes red ? are associated with health-giving effects. One of things they might be doing is to protect against oxidative stress. Oxidation occurs all the time in the body and is cell damage created by charged particles known as free radicals. They also may reduce inflammation.

Fruits and vegetables are loaded with antioxidants, which range from the resveratrol found in red wine, the anthocyanins that make strawberries red and blueberries blue, and the vitamins A, C and E. Diets rich in fruits and vegetables have been shown to reduce the risk of heart disease and cancer. The rats ate supplements made from blueberry juice, but the researchers think the whole fruit may confer even more benefits. You can't overdose on blueberries.
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Wow! This article is amazing. Just think, if this can do this for old rats it could probably help humans as well. Which I researched and found it does.

It makes sense tho because when you age you get more free radicals that cause the aging and antioxidants help to protect against the radicals. Good stuff! Would like to see the effects of blueberries given to rats over the course of their life in correlation to rats that aren't fed blueberries.


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## abazoo (Mar 21, 2009)

This is very interesting and has me thinking about supplements I take myself... such as the "fruit A Vie" which is a knock off of of "Mon A Vie" juice blend. It contains Acai puree, Grape Seed Extract(which is also mention elsewhere to be great for rats!) and a blend of proprietary juices including: Grape, pear, cherry, pomegranate, goji, apple, cranberry, and Blueberry juices. The serving size for humans is a small 1 fl. oz. per day. I wonder how small the dose would be for tiny rats??


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## kawaiikitsune (Oct 9, 2009)

*..*

Hmm well with blueberries apparently you can't over dose. With other fruits...hmm I'm not sure. All I know is acai and pomegranate both have antioxidants like blueberries that will also get rid of free radicals


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## AMJ087 (Aug 27, 2008)

Id look into it more ive heard blueberries are bad ecspecially for male rats. We all know fruits and veggies and generally well for all the obvious reasons but there are a few that rats have problems with.


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## kwoolie (Sep 30, 2009)

I let my furbutts snack on blueberry baby food, I'm glad it's doing them some good! I've never heard of blueberries being bad for rats though :-\


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## AMJ087 (Aug 27, 2008)

I can try to find the source again that I found it but it was a long time ago... all I know is there is research both ways so be leary...


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## kawaiikitsune (Oct 9, 2009)

Yes please find it. It might be that it only helps elder rats since their the ones with the most free radicals. I can't really think of any reason it would hurt them except it maybe being acidic because I know things like orange are bad for them and they're acidic.


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## AMJ087 (Aug 27, 2008)

I am looking for that article again but like it said it was a while ago so who knows if I can or if since new studies and whatnot have been better and proved it wrong etc... I have found this though so far which I found interesting:


orange juice—forbidden for male rats only, d-limonene in the skin oil, which gets into the orange juice during squeezing, can cause kidney damage and kidney cancer due to a protein that only male rats have in their kidneys. Pieces of the orange fruit are okay if you wash the orange-skin oil off of it after peeling it. -ratfanclub.org


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## kawaiikitsune (Oct 9, 2009)

I just wouldn't give male rats oranges all together. I dont wanna take a chance x.x 

Searched and didnt find anything on blueberries being bad for rats. Please lemme know of u find anything


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## FeffOx (Feb 8, 2009)

I think blueberries are okay.

Fruits

Apples
Apricots
Bananas - but not green bananas
*Blueberries - All around good for rats (Just be careful they don't stain anything you don't want stained with juice) (Submitted by Mana)*

http://www.ratforum.com/index.php/topic,3079.0.html


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## lilspaz68 (Feb 24, 2007)

I have started giving my rats blueberry/fruit oatmeal because of this article...fresh is just too much now, but wild blueberries frozen in oatmeal with soymilk is a real hit


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## Lea (May 15, 2009)

Most of the summer I gave my rats 1 or 2 blueberries each a day since I was buying them for myself--but now the price has really gone up so none of us have been getting them.  Still, I do have some in the freezer that I can get out, now that I think about it!


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## maddy (Jul 27, 2009)

your rats are spoiled lilspaz68


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## kawaiikitsune (Oct 9, 2009)

Hmm, didn't realize blueberries were so expensive. But I guess they are seasonal...my family picks blue berries every year so we always have large surpluses of them throughout the year in the freezer. Of course our family is so big that it can go quite fast.
Tried to feed my rats blue berries the other day, but they we're really interested. That's a bummer.


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