Forget five-a-day and remember three-a-day instead

THREE portions of colourful fruit or vegetables a day could hold the key to staving off memory loss in old age, a major study has found.

Harvard researchers followed more than 75,000 people in their late 40s and early 50s for 20 years and found those with the most colourful diets were 20 per cent less likely to suffer memory loss.

The key compounds in brightly coloured foods are a group of chemicals called flavonoids, which are also found in high levels in tea, strawberries, peppers and apples.

Flavonoids have a variety of purposes for plants, but they have long been known to be highly beneficial for human health.

The new study, published in the journal Neurology, found that the people who consume the most flavonoids in a day, around 600mg, are 19 per cent less likely to suffer cognitive decline in later life compared with people who eat the least, around 150mg a day.

There are around 180mg of flavonoids in 100 grams of strawberries, and around 113mg in an apple.

Participants in the study were given questionnaires to assess their dietary habits and also their cognitive abilities. They were asked six questions to gauge the level of cognitive decline, of which memory loss is the primary symptom.

Two of the questions were: “Do you have more trouble than usual following a group conversation or a plot in a TV programme due to your memory?” and “Do you have trouble finding your way around familiar streets?”.

Researchers then analysed the data to see what diet components had the most impact on preventing cognitive decline, after taking into consideration other aspects such as preexisting health conditions and physical activity.

It revealed that eating more flavonoids cut the risk of cognitive decline by a fifth. However, flavonoids is a broad umbrella term, with several subgroups – all with varying levels of influence.

For example, flavones, a group of chemicals found in low levels in spices, as well as orange and yellow fruits, reduce risk by 38 per cent.

Anthocyanins, found in blueberries and blackberries, were also found to be very good for preventing cognitive decline, with high consumption linked to a 24 per cent reduction in risk.