Tuesday, April 8, 2014

Eating Onions May Boost Memory Function

I think I'll stick to coffee and tea.
The readable writeup here:
http://www.livestrong.com/article/481050-does-too-much-onion-affect-your-memory/
The abstract it is based on here; in mice
Authors
Hiroyuki Nishimura1, Ohki Higuchi1, Koutaro Tateshita1, Koji Tomobe2, Yasunobu Okuma2, Yasuyuki Nomura2
1Department of Bioscience and Technology, School of Engineering, Hokkaido Tokai University, Sapporo 005-8601, Japan
2Department of Pharmacology, Graduate School of Pharmaceutical Sciences, Hokkaido University, Sapporo 060-0812, Japan

Abstract

The antioxidative activity and ameliorative effects on memory impairment by sulfur-containing compounds which occur in Allium vegetables such as onion and garlic were investigated. The antioxidative activities of S-alk(en)yl-L-cysteines and their sulfoxides, volatile alk(en)yl disulfides and trisulfides, and vinyldithiins were examined by using human low-density lipoprotein. It was elucidated that the alk(en)yl substituents and the number of sulfur atoms in the compounds were important for the antioxidative activities. To demonstrate the ameliorative effects on memory impairment, onion extract and synthesized di-n-propyl trisulfide were administered to senescence-accelerated mouse P8. The behavioral experiments showed that onion extract and di-n-propyl trisulfide had highly ameliorative effect of memory impairment. Furthermore, it was found that the hippocampus lipid hydroperoxide in senescence-accelerated mouse P8 was decreased by the administration of di-n-propyl trisulfide. These results suggest that di-n-propyl trisulfide contained in onion ameliorates memory impairment in SAMP8 mouse by its antioxidant effect.

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