Fruit & veges slow memory decline in long-running study

  • A large, long-running study has found an association between consumption of fruit & vegetables and subjectively assessed memory skills in older men.

A study following nearly 28,000 older men for 20 years has found that regular consumption of leafy greens, dark orange and red vegetables and berry fruits, and orange juice, was associated with a lower risk of memory loss.

The study looked at 27,842 male health professionals, who were an average age of 51 in 1986, when the study began. Participants filled out questionnaires about how many servings of fruits, vegetables and other foods they had each day, at the beginning of the study and then every four years.

Specifically:

  • those who consumed the most vegetables (around six servings a day) were 34% less likely to develop poor thinking skills than the men who consumed the least amount of vegetables (around two servings)
  • 6.6% of men who consumed the most vegetables developed poor cognitive function, compared to 7.9% of men who consumed the least
  • those who drank orange juice every day were 47% less likely to develop poor thinking skills than those who drank less than one serving per month
  • 6.9% of men who drank orange juice every day developed poor cognitive function, compared to 8.4 % of men who drank orange juice less than once a month

Interestingly, those who ate larger amounts of fruits and vegetables 20 years earlier were less likely to develop cognitive problems, whether or not they kept eating larger amounts of fruits and vegetables about six years before the memory test.

Cognition was not, however, assessed objectively, nor was it tested at baseline. In 2008 and 2012, participants were given a short cognitive test to assess their subjective judgments of their memory and cognition. The brief test included such questions as:

  • "Do you have more trouble than usual remembering a short list of items, such as a shopping list?"
  • "Do you have more trouble than usual following a group conversation or a plot in a TV program due to your memory?"

Just over half the participants (55%) had good thinking and memory skills, 38% had moderate skills, and 7% had poor thinking and memory skills.

https://www.eurekalert.org/pub_releases/2018-11/aaon-ojl111918.php

Reference: 

Changzheng Yuan et al. 2019. Long-term intake of vegetables and fruits and subjective cognitive function in US men. Neurology, 92 (1) e63-e75.

 

Related News

Data from 330 participants in The 90+ Study, of whom 70% were women, has revealed an overall annual incidence rate of 18.2% for dementia, rising from 12.7% per year in the 90-94 age group, to 21.2% in the 95-99 age group and 40.7% per year in the 100+ age group.

A study involving over 1000 older men and women (60-75) with type-2 diabetes has found that those with higher levels of the stress hormone cortisol in their blood are more likely to have experienced cognitive decline.

Following on from studies showing that a Mediterranean-like diet may be associated with a lower risk of Alzheimer's disease and may lengthen survival in people with Alzheimer's, a six-year study of 712 New Yorkers has revealed that those who were most closely following a Mediterranean-like diet

A new test has been developed that measures amyloid-beta oligomers in the cerebrospinal fluid, promising a reliable means of early diagnosis.

A computerized self test (CST) has been developed that is 96% accurate in diagnosing Alzheimer’s and

Both diabetes and clinical depression are known to be risk factors for dementia. Now a study that tracked nearly 4000 diabetics over 5 years has found having both increased the risk 2.7-fold.

A brain scanning study using Pittsburgh Compound B, involving 42 heal

Data from over 900 community-dwelling older adults participating in the Rush Memory and Aging Project has found that greater purpose in life was associated with a substantially reduced risk of developing Alzheimer's disease, as well as a reduced risk of mild cognitive impairment and a slower rat

An analysis technique using artificial neural networks has revealed that the most important factors for predicting whether amnestic mild cognitive impairment (

Data from 625 elderly Americans, followed for an average of 8.5 years, has revealed that those with very good or excellent vision at the beginning of the study had a 63% reduced risk of dementia over the study period.

Pages

Subscribe to Latest newsSubscribe to Latest newsSubscribe to Latest health newsSubscribe to Latest news
Error | About memory

Error

The website encountered an unexpected error. Please try again later.