If you’ve read my articles over the past year, you know I’ve written at length about a chemical called resveratrol. Resveratrol is found predominantly in fruits, especially berries and within the skin of grapes. The health benefits of resveratrol are many, including how they improve the body’s immune system function, are believed to make less-than-effective treatments like chemotherapy more effective and have been shown to be one of the active ingredients in wine that enhances heart health. But there’s another chemical closely associated with resveratrol you may not be familiar with. It’s called pterostilbene and it’s often found where resveratrol lurks.

We all know about the health benefits of blueberries and berries in general, right? But few of us know what, exactly, makes blueberries so ‘berry’ good for our bodies. To avoid getting into the nitty-gritty of the chemical processes that go on inside berries, let’s just say that pterostilbene is one of the main reasons for berries’ health promoting properties.

What makes pterostilbene such an amazing chemical is the fact that it’s linked to so many positive health effects that go on in all areas of the body, from the brain (slows cognitive decline), to the blood (lowers cholesterol levels) to the colon (reduces the risk of colon cancer).

The latest finding, though, on pterostilbene’s positive health effects are with regards to aging. Unfortunately, aging is something none of us can escape, though some believe they can escape it by going to absurd lengths through face lifts and botox injections. Instead of freezing moments in time when we looked and were younger, though, the only things these procedures wind up freezing is our faces – literally (anyone seen what Barry Manilow looks like these days? Yikes!)!

The only way to stay looking and feeling younger is through natural supplements and foods, particularly those foods rich in pterostilbene, as a recent collaborative study out of Tufts University and the Agricultural Research Service has found. In the study, researchers fed aging rats one of three diets: a control diet, a diet low in pterostilbene and a diet high in pterostilbene. At the study’s conclusion, they found that those rats whose diets were highest in pterostilbene performed best in tests that measured the brain’s memorization capabilities. The researchers believe the lack of pterostilbene percolating in the brain’s hippocampus region was directly related to the underperforming rats and their cognitive abilities.

Now as you might have noticed, this study’s focused on aging from a standpoint of brain function, but berries are among the top foods to pack your diet with to fight physical signs of aging. That’s because berries are overflowing with antioxidants, which are the best weapon to use when fending off wrinkles and crow’s feet. And yes, pterostilbene is an antioxidant.

The benefits of the natural compounds found in quality foods like grapes and berries are endless. It’s a good thing, too, or else I’d be out of a job!