Vegetables Help Fight Age-Related Memory Problems
Eating vegetables, not fruit, helps slow down the rate of cognitive change in older adults, according to a study published in a recent issue of Neurology, the scientific journal of the American Academy of Neurology.
In determining whether there was an association between vegetables, fruit and cognitive decline, researchers from Rush University Medical Center studied 3,718 residents in Chicago who were age 65 and older. Participants completed a food frequency questionnaire and received at least two cognitive tests over a six-year period.
“Compared to people who consumed less than one serving of vegetables a day, people who ate at least 2.8 servings of vegetables a day saw their rate of cognitive change slow by roughly 40 percent, said study author Martha Clare Morris, ScD, associate professor at Rush University Medical Center in Chicago, Illinois. “This decrease is equivalent to about 5 years of younger age.”
Of the different types of vegetables consumed by participants, green leafy vegetables had the strongest association to slowing the rate of cognitive decline. The study also found the older the person, the greater the slowdown in the rate of cognitive decline if that person consumed more than two servings of vegetables a day. Surprisingly, the study found fruit consumption was not associated with cognitive change.
|
