The study, which has been published in the January 2009 issue of the Journal of Alzheimer’s Disease, demonstrates a growing body of evidence that people can take steps to delay age-related cognitive decline, including in some cases that which accompanies Alzheimer’s disease.

Thomas B Shea, PhD, of the Centre for Cellular Neurobiology; Neurodegeneration Research University of Massachusetts, Lowell and his research team carried out a number of laboratory studies demonstrating that drinking apple juice helped mice perform better than normal in maze trials, and prevented the decline in performance that was otherwise observed as these mice aged.

In the most recent study Shea and his team demonstrated that mice receiving the human equivalent of 2 glasses of apple juice per day for 1 month produced less of a small protein fragment, called "beta-amyloid" that is responsible for forming the "senile plaques" that are commonly found in brains of individuals suffering from Alzheimer''s disease.