Recently, legendary women’s basketball coach Pat Summit made headlines when she announced her retirement at age 59, one year after she was diagnosed with early-onset Alzheimer’s. Summit explained in a press conference, “I recognize that the time has come to move into the future and to step into a new role.” She will devote her efforts to the Pat Summit Foundation Fund, a nonprofit organization dedicated to raising money to support Alzheimer’s education, patient support and research. 

An exciting area of emphasis in brain research that could potentially garner the attention of Summit’s foundation involves polyphenols, which are the natural compounds that give fruits and vegetables their vibrant colors. These compounds also have health-promoting properties, including enhancing brain function. 

In a study published in the April 2, 2012 issue of the Journal of Agricultural and Food Chemistry, researchers found that the polyphenols in grape juice enhanced memory performance and overall mental function. 

This study featured 11 men and 10 women with an average age of 76. All of the participants had mild cognitive impairment, and were randomly assigned to drink either grape juice or a placebo beverage. The daily dose was determined by body weight, so people who weighed more received more grape juice. For example, someone weighing 110 pounds would drink 12 ounces and someone weighing 198 pounds would drink 20 ounces.

The researchers found that the grape juice group performed better on memory tasks and had significantly greater activation in the right side of the brain via MRI scan than the non-grape juice drinkers. This is the first study to show increased brain activation with MRI in people consuming grape juice. However, the researchers noted that the grape juice drinkers did not experience improvement in learning or retention. 

The results of this study are consistent with a previous study published by the same researchers in 2010 in the British Journal of Nutrition showing that grape juice enhanced memory.