An Apple A Day Keeps Dementia Away

When it comes to brain health, an old adage gets a makeover: 'An apple a day keeps dementia away.' In a first long-term study, people who ate foods with flavonoids had lower risks for Alzheimer's and related diseases. The study involved nearly three thousand people aged fifty or older for over twenty years and looked at how eating flavonoid containing foods impacted the development of dementia.

Flavonoid-rich foods and drinks include apples, onions, pears, berries, wine and tea, especially green tea, and our favorite, dark chocolate. Flavonoids give plants their bright colors and are powerful antioxidants that fight inflammation and improve immunity.

At the start of this study, only people without cognitive decline were enrolled. They were divided into groups based on how much and the types of flavonoid containing foods they ate. There are six groups of flavonoids with over six thousand types identified.

The results showed that those consuming low levels of flavonols such as tea, pears and apples had up to twice the risk of developing dementia. But those who ate diets low in anthocyanins such as strawberries and blueberries had four times the cases of dementia. Eating very small amounts of these foods meant that each month they ate either no berries or just an apple and a half and drank no teas.

The study had some weaknesses. The data was self-reported and the people were mostly Caucasian. Yet, with six million Americans living with dementia, drinking a bit of tea every night doesn't seem like too much work.