Afraid of getting old and senile? Start eating buckets of berries…

Mental decline can start as soon as your hit your forties. Worrying, right? But the good news is that you can slow it down by eating berries. Yes, really.

The Irish Independent reports that chowing down on strawberries and blueberries can not only protect you from developing Parkinson’s disease, they can also slow down the decline of your brain.

In fact, eating the fruits on a regular basis can delay the ageing process of your brain by up to 2.5 years. We don’t know about you, but we like those odds!

Scientists in the US recruited some volunteers and analysed their health and lifestyle data between the years of 1995 and 2001.

The study revealed that during that period of time, elderly volunteers who regularly ate strawberries and blueberries experienced a slower decline in their wits.

Basically, they were less likely to forget where they were and also less likely to put their toast in the washing machine...

According to experts, the mental benefits of strawberries and blueberries are all down to these things called flavonoid chemicals. These chemicals contain powerful antioxidants and strong anti-inflammatory properties.

“Our findings have significant public health implications as increasing berry intake is a fairly simple dietary modification to test cognition protection in older adults,” said Dr Elizabeth Devore, who led the study at Harvard Medical School in Boston.

So there you have it. If you want to keep your thoughts sharp and avoid the indignity of becoming a senile old man, up your berry intake.

While they make not make you a genius, they can help you to keep your wits about you for the foreseeable future.