HOUSTON (The New York Times News Service) -- Write this down so you won't forget it later.

Eating certain berries and vegetables on a regular basis now may keep you from age-related memory problems down the road.

Granted, it has not been proved in human studies, but it certainly works for lab rats, which have similar brain components and suffer from age-related memory loss for reasons similar to humans.

Now, a study coordinated by University of Houston-Clear Lake researchers shows it might also work in people. And since we are talking about readily available foods such as blueberries, strawberries and spinach, what have we got to lose by hitting the produce aisle?

"We have an opportunity to ensure a better and healthier aging," said Pilar Goyarzu of the National Autonomous University of Mexico. Goyarzu participated in the research project coordinated by Dr. David Malin of the University of Houston-Clear Lake. Findings are published in an upcoming issue of Nutritional Neuroscience.

The researchers used blueberries because their antioxidant properties are believed to counter the damaging effects of free radicals. Free radicals are compounds that are destructively reactive with other compounds, so they can damage important cellular components and contribute to aging.

Some intensely colored fruits and vegetables are especially good sources of antioxidants because the pigments that cause the intense color contain the antioxidants. They include the fruits blueberries, blackberries, cranberries, strawberries and raspberries, and the vegetables kale, spinach, Brussels sprouts, alfalfa sprouts and broccoli.

"People have been eating these foods for thousands of years," Malin said. "This is low-risk intervention." The study found that rats that had blueberry matter added to their diet at age 15 months -- middle age in the rat world, and the time memory problems begin -- did much better on memory tests at 19 months (old age in rats) than same-age rats eating the same diet without blueberries.

In fact, the 19-month-old rats eating blueberries performed about the same as a control group of 8-month-old rats.

The rats in all groups had the same diet (except for the blueberries), living conditions and memory tests over the four-month study.

Malin presented similar findings at a neurology conference in 2001, when he had results without proof of why.

"We now know that the blueberry diet interferes with some of the biochemical changes caused by oxidative damage in the aging brain," Malin said. "We were able to show a correlation between the biochemical status of the brain and the subjects' memory ability." Aging causes the increase of "stress proteins" in the brain caused by oxygen containing free radicals.

"(Stress proteins) are indicators of cells in trouble," Malin said.

"Four months on the blueberry-supplemented diet significantly reduced that increase, suggesting the antioxidant diet protected the brain cells against stress." The rats in the study -- all white-haired, red-eyed male virgin lab rats -- had age-related memory loss, not Alzheimer's. However, Goyarzu said, a 2003 study by other researchers using transgenic mice -- whose genes have been manipulated to develop Alzheimer's-type symptoms -- indicated a blueberry-enhanced diet might overcome genetic disease predisposition.

In the UH-CL study, rats were used at the time in their 24-month life cycle when memory begins to decline, but before the memory decline is advanced.

"Research is showing the sooner the better," said Goyarzu of when to start eating blueberries and similar foods. "A lot of the problems like Alzheimer's, by the time they start showing, they have been there for a while." As difficult as such studies are to do with humans -- we tend to resent being fed the same diet every day for years -- Malin said the results convince him human nutritional studies are needed.

"It's time we get on with that," he said.

Should people already suffering memory problems chow down on berries?

The antioxidant properties of the blueberries prevented or reduced chemical damage that contributed to memory loss, but this research did not test whether it could reverse existing damage.

"I would recommend (my family) eat more fruit, more berries, like strawberries, cranberries, blackberries," Goyarzu said. "They all seem to have similar effects." Oh, there's also one more benefit. Taste.

"I like blueberries," Malin said. "I have it on my cereal in the morning."

Copyright 2004 The New York Times News Service. All rights reserved.