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New Zealand scientists have developed a brain-boosting drink - a fruit-juice cocktail that appears to improve people's memory and reduce stress.
After two years in development, the drink, derived from a secret blend of fruits, has shown promising results in reducing stress and enhancing memory. It will go to a larger human trial within weeks.
It also seems to have the opposite effects on the human body to caffeine, which can make drinkers jittery, and relaxes the body.
The memory-enhancing drink is a "mood food" aimed especially at tired mothers, says HortResearch neuroscientist Dr Arjan Scheepens. The institute's surveys found that mothers aged 40 to 60 were the group who most wanted a stress-relieving food product.
"Whereas now they might reach for a cigarette or an alcoholic drink or might shout at somebody, they will go for this type of drink."
Dr Scheepens said yesterday that caffeine drinks woke people up and made them jittery; the new fruit juice was the opposite.
"This is the beverage equivalent of waves lapping on the shore," he said, quoting a colleague.
The juice will be tested by 72 people in a randomised, placebo-controlled trial wellness programme funded by the Foundation for Research, Science and Technology. If it proves successful, HortResearch hopes to license the idea to a manufacturer and that the drink will go on retail sale within two years for about $4 a can.
Dr Scheepens said the fruits in the drink were all currently available - unlike some others in the institute's research programme that were specially bred.
He will outline to an Auckland food conference next week the institute's programme to develop a range of mood foods. They are aimed at relieving the symptoms of stress, mental fatigue, hypertension and cognitive decline associated with ageing.
HortResearch has devised ways of rapidly testing numerous plant foods for substances that may affect various known chemical pathways in the brain. But often the substances are broken down by enzymes in the gut, so never enter the blood stream.
Dr Scheepens tries to find ways to inhibit these enzymes by using other plant-food substances.
