New US analysis has found that men who embrace vegetables and leafy greens, fruit juice, and fruit in their diet may get benefit from a lower risk of memory loss as they age. Carried out by researchers at Harvard T.H. Chan Shool of Public Health in Boston, the new large-scale study looked out 27,842 men with an average age of 51. Participants were asked to complete the questionnaires concerning what number servings of fruits, vegetables and other foods that they had daily at the start of the study, and then every four years for 20 years. They were then categorized into teams counting on their fruit and vegetable intake.
The cluster that ate the best amount of vegetables ate around six servings per day, compared to around two servings for lowest group. For fruits, the highest group ate about three servings per day, compared to half a serving for the bottom group. A serving of fruit is defined as one cup of fruit or ½ cup of fruit juice, and a serving of vegetables is considered to be one cup of raw vegetables or two cups of leafy greens.
The researchers conjointly tested the participants’ thinking and memory skills a minimum of four years before the tip of the study, after they the average age of the group was 73. The findings, published in the journal Neurology, showed that individuals who ate larger amounts of fruits and vegetables at the beginning of the study were less seemingly to develop thinking and memory issues later in life, even they weren't ingestion larger amounts around six years before the memory test.
In addition, the team conjointly found that the men who ate the foremost vegetables were 34 % less likely to develop poor thinking skills than men who consumed the least amount of vegetables, whereas the men who drank fruit juice every day were 47 % less likely to develop poor thinking skills than men who drank less than one serving per month.
The men who ate the most fruit each day were also less likely to see a decline in their thinking skills, but the researchers found that this association was weakened after taking into account other dietary factors that could affect the results, such as consumption of vegetables, fruit juice, refined grains, legumes, and dairy products.
"One of the most important factors in this study is that we were able to research and track such a large group of men over a 20-year period of time, allowing for very telling results," said study author Changzheng Yuan, ScD. "Our studies provide further evidence dietary choices can be important to maintain your brain health." However, the researchers pointed out that the study does not show cause and effect, only that there is a relationship between eating fruits and vegetables and drinking orange juice and a reduction of memory loss.