How the foods you love may reduce your risk of developing dementia

It has long been known that what you eat can affect your health. Hippocrates, the father of western medicine, is thought to have said, “let thy food be thy medicine,” but it is only recently that we have isolated the chemical compounds that make this happen.

Flavonoids, for example, are the chemical compounds found in various plant products such as teas, citrus fruits and vegetables and can cause the bitter taste in fruit peel. More importantly, flavonoids are rich in antioxidants and can help your body stay healthy.

These compounds are also found in plant products like wine, tea, berries and dark chocolate, which is good news if you want to reduce your risk of developing dementia according to a new study.

Researchers from Queen’s University Belfast looked at the diets of people aged between and 70 and found that those who ate a flavonoid rich diet had a lower risk of developing dementia, particularly among those participants who were genetically at a higher risk of developing the disease.

The team analysed the eating habits of 120,000 people in the UK who had their dietary and medical data recorded in the UK Biobank’s records, from 2006 to 2010.

The researchers, led by Dr Amy Jennings said the study found that participants who consumed six extra daily servings of tea, red wine and berries had a lower risk of developing dementia, especially if they drank more tea.

“We were also able to show, for the first time in our knowledge, that these associations were evident in participants at high genetic risk of dementia and those with modifiable risk factors, including depression and hypertension, but not in those without,” she said.

“Our results suggest that inclusion of flavonoid-rich foods into the daily diet may lower dementia risk, especially in populations at high risk.”

The researchers wanted to find out what modifiable factors, such as diet, could reduce the risk of developing dementia as no cure currently exists and dementia rates are expected to rise as populations in developed countries continue to age.

And while the study is the largest to date to investigate flavonoids and dementia risk, the researchers admitted there were limitations to their findings such as relying on participants to report their dietary habits correctly and knowing the participants in the Biobank study are healthier than the general population in the UK

This news is encouraging, especially for those who enjoy the nicer things in life, like tea, wine and dark chocolate but want to lead a healthy lifestyle.

Another recent study from the University of East Anglia (UEA) shed more light on reducing the risk of dementia. The study found that introducing a few cranberries into your diet can help improve memory and brain function, with the findings offering hope of preventing neurodegenerative diseases such as dementia.

The Chronic Consumption of Cranberries (Vaccinium macrocarpon) for 12 Weeks Improves Episodic Memory and Regional Brain Perfusion in Healthy Older Adults: A Randomised, Placebo-Controlled, Parallel-Groups Feasibility Study is the first of its kind in examining the impact cranberries have on brain health. Over a 12 week period, researchers studied the benefits of consuming the equivalent of a cup of cranberries among 60 subjects aged between 50 and 80 years old.

Half of the participants consumed freeze-dried cranberry powder daily while the other half consumed a placebo.

UEA’s Norwich Medical School Lead Researcher, Dr David Vauzour said “we wanted to find out more about how cranberries could help reduce age-related neurodegeneration”.

“Cranberries are rich in these micronutrients and have been recognized for their antioxidant and anti-inflammatory properties,” he said.

“Past studies have shown that higher dietary flavonoid intake is associated with slower rates of cognitive decline and dementia. And foods rich in anthocyanins and proanthocyanidins, which give berries their red, blue, or purple colour, have been found to improve cognition.”

The study, published in the journal Frontiers in Nutrition, concluded that consuming cranberries improved the participants’ memory of day to day events, neural function and also improved the delivery of blood to the brain.

UEA’s Norwich Medical School Lead Researcher, Dr David Vauzour said “the participants who consumed the cranberry powder showed significantly improved episodic memory performance in combination with improved circulation of essential nutrients such as oxygen and glucose to important parts of the brain that support cognition – specifically memory consolidation and retrieval”.

“The cranberry group also exhibited a significant decrease in LDL or ‘bad’ cholesterol levels, known to contribute to atherosclerosis – the thickening or hardening of the arteries caused by a build-up of plaque in the inner lining of an artery. This supports the idea that cranberries can improve vascular health and may in part contribute to the improvement in brain perfusion and cognition,” he said.

“Demonstrating in humans that cranberry supplementation can improve cognitive performance and identifying some of the mechanisms responsible is an important step for this research field.”

IMPORTANT LEGAL INFO This article is of a general nature and FYI only, because it doesn’t take into account your personal health requirements or existing medical conditions. That means it’s not personalised health advice and shouldn’t be relied upon as if it is. Before making a health-related decision, you should work out if the info is appropriate for your situation and get professional medical advice.