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We recently revisited how eating a rainbow’s worth of fruit and veg can provide plenty of vitamins and nutrients with myriad health benefits.
The chemicals that give plant-based foods their bright colours are excellent for overall wellbeing, but flavonoids, which are various compounds found naturally in many fruits and vegetables, are especially remarkable.
The New York Times reports on a new study that found that flavonoids may improve forgetfulness and mild confusion that older people often complain about with advancing age, and that sometimes can precede a diagnosis of dementia.
The study, from the journal Neurology, is one of the largest analyses to date, using data from the 1970s with diet and health questionnaires from around 10 000 men and women, average age 73 and 76 respectively, over a span of 20 years.
The scientists analysed the participants’ consumption of a few commonly consumed kinds of flavonoids, which include beta carotene in carrots, flavone in strawberries, and anthocyanin in apples.
The degree of subjective cognitive decline was scored using “yes” or “no” answers to seven questions:
Do you have trouble remembering recent events, remembering things from one second to the next, remembering a short list of items, following spoken instructions, following a group conversation, or finding your way around familiar streets, and have you noticed a recent change in your ability to remember things?
The findings were clearly in favour of a diet full of flavonoids:
The higher the intake of flavonoids, the researchers found, the fewer “yes” answers to the questions. Compared with the one-fifth of those with the lowest intake of flavonoids, the one-fifth with the highest were 19 per cent less likely to report forgetfulness or confusion.
These long-term findings are proof that starting early in life with a flavonoid-rich diet is an excellent way to maintain brain health.
Foods to be eating for that brain boost include brussels sprouts, strawberries, winter squash, and raw spinach, which are the best, while onions, apple juice, and grapes are also good options.
Senior author of the study, Dr Deborah Blacker, below:
For young people and those in midlife, she said, “the message is that these things are good for you in general, and not just for cognition. Finding ways that you enjoy incorporating these things into your life is important. Think about: How do I find fresh produce and cook it in a way that’s appetizing? — that’s part of the message here.”
Cooking healthily at home is obviously a great place to start, as well as finding other ways to incorporate these foods.
Sir Fruit has a wide range of juices, smoothies, cold-pressed juices, and health shots filled to the brim with all the flavonoid goodness you’ll need.
Sir Fruit’s CBD shot contains both apples and spinach, while the strawberry juice blended with apple juice is chock-full of the necessary flavones and anthocyanin.
The cold-pressed juices tick multiple boxes, with the nutrients of the fruits and vegetables preserved because no heat is generated in the cold-pressing process.
To further bolster the research, senior scientist Paul F. Jacques, who had no part in the research, says:
“In terms of scientific advance, this adds to the literature, and it’s a really well-done study. It’s a medium-sized step, not a large step, going in the direction of helping us to identify the early period in which we can intervene successfully” to reduce the risk for Alzheimer’s disease.
This is your official PSA to start that flavonoid-full diet which could help prevent forgetfulness and confusion at a later stage.
Order all of those Sir Fruit goodies online and have them delivered to your door, to really make things nice and easy.
[source:nytimes]
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