Preventing stupidity as you age? Choosing more colorful fruits and vegetables can reduce the risk of cognitive decline in the elderly by 20%!

As people age, their cognitive abilities decline, leading to brain aging. Alzheimer's disease is one of the leading causes of disability and death among the elderly.

Unfortunately, there is currently no effective treatment for dementia.

In fact, changes in the brain begin decades before cognitive decline, so early intervention may prevent or delay the onset of dementia.

Studies have shown that oxidative stress plays an important role in age-related cognitive decline. Therefore, by inhibiting oxidative stress, cognitive decline can be slowed.

[What substances have strong antioxidant properties? 】

Some ingredients in everyday food have powerful antioxidant effects, such as a class of plant compounds called flavonoids. Brightly colored fruits and vegetables such as strawberries, blueberries, oranges and peppers are rich in flavonoids.

Recently, Deborah Blacker's research team from Harvard Medical School published important results. After analyzing data from 49,493 women and 27,842 men, they found that people who consumed more flavonoids were less likely to show early signs of cognitive decline in their later years.

Specifically, after adjusting for age, total energy intake, major non-dietary factors, and specific dietary factors, the researchers found that the risk of cognitive decline in people with the highest flavonoid intake was nearly 20% lower than that in people with the lowest flavonoid intake (OR: 0.81).

Since flavonoids are not a single component but contain multiple substances, the researchers then further investigated the relationship between some specific components of flavonoids, such as flavonols, flavones, flavanones, flavan-3-ol flavonols, anthocyanins, polymeric flavonoids and proanthocyanidins, and the risk of cognitive decline.

turn out,

1. Flavonoids have the best effect in protecting cognition, and are associated with a 38% decrease in the risk of cognitive decline (OR: 0.62)

2, followed by flavanone, 36% (OR: 0.64)

3. Anthocyanin was 24% (OR: 0.76).

What foods should I choose?

After seeing this study, I guess you must want to know what fruits and vegetables rich in flavonoids you should eat. Don't worry, let's take a look at the more representative foods with the mechanism.

1. The content of flavonoids in parsley is particularly high, about 200 mg of flavonoids per 100 grams of parsley.

2. Anthocyanins are found in high concentrations in red cabbage, blueberries and blackberries. Every 100 grams of red cabbage contains about 200 mg of anthocyanins, blueberries contain about 164 mg of anthocyanins, and every 100 grams of blackberries contain about 100 mg of anthocyanins.

3. Flavan-3-ol is abundant in green tea and chocolate. Every 100 grams of chocolate contains about 110 mg of flavan-3-ol, and every 100 grams of green tea contains about 130 mg of flavan-3-ol.

Other common foods rich in flavonoids are shown in the picture above, you can choose accordingly.

It should be noted that this food list is from abroad, and there is not much data on China at present. However, the basic principle is that the food should either be bitter or brightly colored. Keeping these two main characteristics in mind, you can also choose unique Chinese food.

Simple dietary changes may help you prevent cognitive decline. Will you give it a try?

References: Yeh TS, Yuan C, Ascherio A, Rosner B, Willett W, Blacker D. Long-term Dietary Flavonoid Intake and Subjective Cognitive Decline in US Men and Women. Neurology. 2021. doi:10.1212/WNL.0000000000012454