Effects of blueberry supplementation on measures of functional mobility in older adults

Abstract

Limited functional mobility in older adults has been associated with declines in tests of motor, psychomotor, and executive function. Animal studies have demonstrated reversals in indices of motor and psychomotor function via supplementation with polyphenolic-rich foods such as blueberries. The purpose of this study was to examine whether 6 weeks of daily consumption of 2 cups of frozen blueberries affects functional mobility in older adults. Pre- and post-intervention assessments of grip strength, simple reaction time, adaptive gait, and executive function were completed for older adults (age >60 years) partially randomly assigned to a blueberry (BB) supplementation or a carrot juice drink control (CAR) group. Paired t tests were used to assess within-group effects for outcome variables in each supplementation group, and a mixed-model analysis of covariance (ANCOVA) was used to determine group (CAR vs. BB) differences. Mixed-model analysis indicated that the BB group demonstrated significant improvements relative to the CAR group in performance (i.e., number of step errors) of a challenging dual-task adaptive gait test that were independent of differences in gait speed. Within only the BB group, significant improvements were also seen in 3 other measures (i.e., usual gait speed; number of step errors during single-task adaptive gait; and gait speed during dual-task adaptive gait). These preliminary findings support the hypothesis that blueberry supplementation may provide an effective countermeasure to age-related declines in functional mobility and serve as justification for an expansion to larger trials to more fully assess this nonpharmacologic approach to maintaining optimal mobility and independence.

MIND Diet Associated with Reduced Incidence and Delayed Progression of Parkinsonism in Old Age

“…Berries and green leafy vegetables are two specific food components of the MIND diet. Berries were found to enhance motor performance (balance and coordination) in mice (23) as well as marginally improve gait speed and total steps error in older adults (24). Green leafy vegetables, rich in various brain protective nutrients (lutein, folate, beta-carotene, Vitamin E), have not been studied for their effects on the motor or physical function.…”

The effect of blueberry interventions on cognitive performance and mood: A systematic review of randomized controlled trials

“…All studies were randomised controlled trials, with four studies using a cross-over design. Five studies were conducted using children (aged 7-10 years) (Barfoot et al, 2018;Khalid et al, 2017;Whyte et al, 2016Whyte et al, , 2017Whyte and Williams, 2015), one using young adults (aged 18-21 years) (Khalid et al, 2017), and the other six articles investigated older people (aged 60-92 years) (Boespflug et al, 2018;McNamara et al, 2018;Miller et al, 2018;Schrager et al, 2015;Whyte et al, 2018). Ten of the studies included healthy individuals.…”

“…Anthocyanin content ranged from 1.55 mg/day (Whyte et al, 2018) to ~387 mg/day (Bowtell et al, 2017). Anthocyanin content of the interventions were reported in all studies except one (Schrager et al, 2015) and are presented in supplementary material. Three studies used an inert placebo as a control while nine studies used a control that was matched for some nonpolyphenol components such as vitamin C, energy, and simple carbohydrates.…”

“…One study compared 30 mL of blueberry concentrate (387 mg anthocyanins) to a control which contained blackcurrant and apple cordial (Bowtell et al, 2017). Two studies used 200 g of whole blueberries compared with either carrot juice (Schrager et al, 2015), or 143 mg of anthocyanins blended with semi-skimmed milk and compared with semi-skimmed milk, matched for vitamin C, sucrose, fructose and glucose content (Whyte and Williams, 2015).…”

Marketing Power Berries: An Importance-Performance Analysis of Blueberry

“…Researcher studies have demonstrated that blueberries can improve mobility, protect the heart, improve memory, maintain eye health, and may also act as anti-cancer agents (Bornsek et al, 2012;Liu et al, 2012;Schrager, Hilton, Gould, & Kelly, 2015;Whyte, Schafer, & Williams, 2016;Whyte & Williams, 2012). Consumers' demand for blueberries has been on the rise (U.S. Highbush Blueberry Council, 2014a).…”