Flavonoids may improve mental health
Published July 5th, 2007
Diet rich in flavonoids, compounds in fruit, vegetables, coffee, tea and chocolate, could reduce the decline in mental function associated with age, says a new study from France.
“This study raises the possibility that dietary flavonoid intake is associated with better cognitive evolution,” wrote lead author Luc Letenneur in the American Journal of Epidemiology.
The researchers, from France’s Institut National de la Santé Et de la Recherche Médicale (INSERM) and the Université Victor Segalen Bordeaux 2, recruited 1,640 subjects with an average age of 77 and free of dementia at the start of the study and assessed dietary intakes of flavonoids using food frequency questionnaires four times over 10 years.
After adjusting the results for potential confounding factors, such as age, sex, and educational level, Letenneur and co-workers report that flavonoid intake was associated with both better cognitive performance at the start of the study and better evolution of mental performance over time.
Subjects with the highest flavonoid intakes (between 13.6 and 36.9 milligrams per day) were found to have better cognitive function than those with the lowest intakes. After ten years of follow-up, it was found that, while those with the lowest intakes had lost an average of 2.1 points on the MMSE, subjects with the highest intakes had lost only 1.2 points.
“We showed that higher intake of flavonoids from food may be associated wit a better cognitive evolution over a 10-year period. Whether this reflects a causal association remains to be elucidated,” wrote the researchers.
Source: American Journal of Epidemiology
Volume 165, Number 12, Pages 1364-1371; doi:10.1093/aje/kwm036
“Flavonoid Intake and Cognitive Decline over a 10-Year Period”
Authors: L Letenneur, C Proust-Lima, A Le Gouge, JF Dartigues and P Barberger-Gateau
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