Grape Extract May Improve Cognition
Polyphenolic compounds in colored fruits and vegetables are thought to improve memory and cognition. Extracts from Vitis vinifera, the grape species that includes almost all well-known varieties of wine, have been found to have many beneficial effects: antioxidant, antibacterial, anti-inflammatory, anticancer, antidiabetic effects, in addition to protective effects on skin, the heart, the liver, and neurons.
For about a decade, researchers have known that polyphenolic compounds from grapes could improve cognitive impairment and reduce neuropathological lesions in the brain in animals with a model of Alzheimer’s disease. New research suggests that the same compounds that protect the plant against damage, fungus, or UV rays may also protect the human brain against damage.
Researchers led by Gioacchino Calapai tested a trademarked nutritional supplement called Cognigrape, which includes extracts from Vitis vinifera, in healthy adults between the ages of 55 and 75 in Italy. One group of 57 participants received 250mg of Cognigrape per day while the other group of 54 received placebo once a day for twelve weeks. Several weeks after the supplementation period, the group taking Cognigrape showed significant improvement in cognitive function compared to baseline and compared to the group taking placebo. The Cognigrape group also showed significant reductions in depression symptoms, improvements in somatic symptoms, and improvements in attention, language, immediate memory, and delayed memory. This is the first study to find an improvement in cognitive performance in humans after supplementation with a Vitis vinifera extract.
The study by Calapai and colleagues was published in the journal Frontiers in Pharmacology in 2017.
