Vegetables may help keep the brain young
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People who eat their vegetables may help keep their minds sharp into old age, a study published Monday suggests. Fruit, on the other hand, seems to have less of a benefit.
Researchers found that among more than 3,700 older adults they followed for six years, those who ate plenty of vegetables showed a significantly slower rate of decline in memory and other mental abilities.
Compared with men and women who ate the fewest vegetables—typically less than a serving a day—those who ate around three servings or more per day had a 40 percent slower rate of decline on tests of cognitive function.
Fruit intake was unrelated to mental performance, the study authors report in the journal Neurology.
The findings suggest that something about vegetables, such as their concentration of certain nutrients, makes them particularly effective in preserving mental acuity into old age, the researchers speculate.
For example, leafy greens and certain other vegetables are good sources of vitamin E, which may help maintain memory and thinking ability later in life, lead study author Dr. Martha Clare Morris, of Rush University Medical Center in Chicago, told Reuters Health.
Also, unlike fruit, vegetables are often eaten with salad dressings or prepared with oils. These fats, Morris explained, help the body absorb vitamin E, as well as other antioxidant compounds found in vegetables, like carotenoids and flavonoids.
Morris and her colleagues based their findings on 3,718 adults age 65 and older who completed dietary questionnaires and standard tests of memory and other cognitive abilities at the start of the study. They repeated the tests three and six years later.
In general, the findings showed, vegetable lovers had a slower rate of cognitive decline over the study period, even with a range of other factors taken into account—including age, race, education and lifestyle habits such as smoking and exercise.
“This is just one more reason why we should consume a lot of vegetables,” Morris said.
Even if certain nutrients in vegetables do help explain the cognitive benefits, it’s better to eat the foods than take supplements, according to the researcher.
“In most studies,” she noted, “vitamin E and other vitamin supplements have not been found to be helpful for retaining one’s memory or thinking ability with age.” It may be the complexes of nutrients found in whole vegetables that are important, she added.
SOURCE: Neurology, October 24, 2006.
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