Dairy Compound May Protect the Brain

Known for its importance in bone and muscle health, milk may benefit the brain as well.  In-Young Choi, from the University of Kansas Medical Center (Kansas, USA), and colleagues enrolled 60 healthy men and women, mean age 68.7 years), in a study in which subjects were asked about their diets in the days leading up to brain scans, which the team employed to monitor levels of glutathione – a potent antioxidant – in the brain.  The researchers found that participants who had indicated they had drank milk recently had higher levels of glutathione in their brains.  Writing that: “Higher cerebral glutathione concentrations were associated with greater dairy consumption in older adults,” the study authors submit that: “dairy foods may serve as a good source of substrates for glutathione synthesis in the human brain.”