Eating away at Alzheimer’s

“An onion can make people cry, but there has never been a vegetable invented to make them laugh,” Will Rogers once said. That may be true, but vegetables have an even more special talent: They keep the brain healthy and slash your risk for Alzheimer’s disease, thanks to a superhero “Polly Phenol” — aka flavonol — that’s packed into almost every fruit and veggie, and tea.

A recent study published in Neurology tracked 921 adults, average age of 81, who didn’t have Alzheimer’s when the research started. The participants filled out questionnaires about how frequently they ate certain foods and their other lifestyle habits, such as fitness, education and hobbies, which are known to boost memory and cognition. After six years, 220 of the participants were diagnosed with Alzheimer’s. The researchers found that those who ate a diet that contained the most amount (15.3 mg/day) of three types of flavonols — isorhamnetin, kaempferol, and myricetin — were 48% less likely to develop Alzheimer’s compared with those who took in the least (5.3 mg/day). That’s huge!

More research is needed to understand why flavonols in particular can help protect you from Alzheimer’s. But do your body and brain a favor: Make sure you get seven to nine servings daily of colorful fruits and vegetables that have the most flavonols and greatest Alzheimer’s fighting powers: kale (23.74 mg of flavonols in 3 ounces) and beans (31.32 mg in 3 ounces) lead the way, along with tea, spinach and broccoli; also effective are pears, olive oil, wine (in moderation), tomatoes, tomato sauce and oranges!

Mehmet Oz, M.D. is host of “The Dr. Oz Show,” and Mike Roizen, M.D. is Chief Wellness Officer and Chair of Wellness Institute at Cleveland Clinic. To live your healthiest, tune into “The Dr. Oz Show” or visit www.sharecare.com.