Drink and eat these surprising foods to fend off memory loss: New research

Nutrition

From Marc Lallanilla

May 30, 2023 | 1.45pm

Forget something? Can’t you remember the name of the actor you know, the one from that movie?

Maybe you need more red wine and cherries in your diet, suggests a new study.

Researchers found that people whose diets were low in flavanols, a substance found in some foods, had better memories after three years of taking flavanol supplements.

These are exciting results because they suggest there is an optimal amount of flavanols in the diet, Gunter Kuhnle, study co-author and professor of nutrition and food science at the University of Reading in the United Kingdom, said in a news release.

Red wine, black and green tea, dark chocolate, beans, cabbage, watercress, onions, and fruits like cherries, blackberries, black grapes, and apples contain healthy amounts of flavanols, according to experts.

Researchers asked more than 3,562 older adults to take a 500 mg flavanol supplement in pill form or a placebo for three years. Their memory was tested on an annual basis using online short-term memory tests.

Additionally, at the beginning of the study period and at yearly intervals, the participants’ urine was sampled to determine their flavanol levels.

For people who already had a lot of flavanols in their diet at the start of the study period, there wasn’t much improvement in memory, even if they took flavanol supplements.

But among people whose diets started out low in flavanols, their memory scores increased by 16 percent after just one year of taking flavanol supplements. And their memory improvement was sustained over the three years.

The improvement raises the possibility of using flavanol-rich diets or supplements to improve cognitive function in older adults, study co-author Adam Brickman, a professor of neuropsychology at Columbia University, said in a news release.

Health experts noted that the study underscores the need for more research into how nutrients are needed to maintain a healthy brain into old age.

As we live longer this century, research is beginning to reveal that several nutrients are needed to fortify our aging minds, said study co-author Dr. Scott Small in a news release.

Our study, which relies on biomarkers of flavanol consumption, can be used as a model by other researchers to identify additional nutrients needed, Small added.

But not all scientists were thrilled with the results of the study, which was funded in part by Mars, a maker of chocolate and other candies.

I’m afraid the results don’t support the claim that flavanols improve memory function, David Curtis, an honorary professor at the Institute of Genetics at University College London, told Science Media Centre.

Even in the group that initially had low flavanol intake, those taking a flavanol supplement for years had about the same memory function as those taking the placebo, and any difference was well within chance expectations, he said. Curtis.

Other scientists caution that studies focusing on short-term memory don’t reveal much about the risks of dementia and Alzheimer’s disease.

[I]It is important to make the distinction between age-related memory loss and dementia. While the main sign of Alzheimer’s is episodic memory loss, age-related memory loss is common to everyone, Davide Bruno, a researcher at Liverpool John Moores University in the UK, told Science Media Centre.

While it’s possible that flavanols could play a role in the development of dementia, the effects of the supplements on memory appear to be modest and limited to those individuals on a lower-quality diet at the start of the study, Bruno added.