The Queensland plums that could boost brain health

ABC NEWS (Australia)

The Queen garnet plum is the result of a stone fruit breeding program in Queensland. And scientists have found when they are fed to obese rats, there is a stunning turnaround in their health.

Transcript

00:00As accidental hero stories go, the Queen Garnet Plum is a cracker.

00:16In the early 2000s, two Queensland Department of Primary Industry scientists set out to

00:22breed a better plum, a job that would normally take about 12 years.

00:27Professor Bruce Topp, who now works in macadamias, recalls in just six years, he and colleague

00:35Dougal Russell identified one cross with so much potential, they named it.

00:41Queen for Queensland, Garnet for its colour.

00:45And this one stood out straight away because of the deep colour of the red flesh.

00:51The colour raised hopes it was high in anthocyanins, a plant compound with anti-inflammatory

00:57and anti-oxidant properties.

01:00They're associated with blue, red and purple fruits and vegetables.

01:05The Queen Garnets, or QG's, levels were higher than the gold standard blueberries.

01:12Victoria University's Professor Michael Mattai is investigating the plum's potential

01:18to improve brain health.

01:19There is evidence that people with early stage dementia or perhaps mild cognitive impairment

01:27can be helped by this.

01:29Certainly, there are some markers of inflammation which go down when they're taking Queen Garnet

01:36Plum Extract.

01:37I'm doing the 10 times dilution of the crude extract.

01:41I can show you the neuron-like structures and the microscope.

01:44He's adding plum extract to lab-made neuronal cells which mimic brain cells.

01:52So far, so encouraging.

01:54We see increases in genes or proteins made by the cells which drive the formation of new

02:03connections and the lengthening of the axons, which are like the telephone wires that connect

02:09the different cells.

02:11That's the basis for things like making new memories or enhancing the signal through which

02:18they communicate with each other.

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