Vegetables slow memory loss in old age, study finds

People who ate the most green leafy vegetables had least memory loss, the study found.

CHICAGO - An apple a day may keep the doctor away but a plate full of vegetables is more likely to help fight memory problems in old age, United States researchers have said.

Elderly people who reported eating at least 2.8 servings of vegetables a day compared to people who ate less than one serving a day saw their rate of memory loss and other mental decline slow by 40 per cent over six years, the researchers found.

"This is very encouraging news that may help us retain our cognitive abilities as we age," study author Martha Clare Morris of Rush University Medical Centre in Chicago said.

Her team studied 3718 people in Chicago aged 65 and older, who filled out questionnaires on what they ate and who were given tests of mental ability at least twice over the study period.

People who ate the most green leafy vegetables such as lettuce and spinach had the least memory loss, on average. Next best were yellow vegetables such as squash and cruciferous vegetables such as broccoli.

Legumes such as peanuts and lentils had the least effect, and eating fruit frequently did not have any apparent effect at all, the researchers reported in the journal Neurology,

"Our finding of fruits in general does not mean that there aren't some individual fruits that would be protective," said Morris. She noted that another study from Tufts University in Boston showed that showed a diet rich in berries improved brain function in aging rats.

Morris said one possible explanation is that vegetables contain high amounts of vitamin E, which is linked with better brain function.

Vegetables also are typically eaten with fats such as those found in salad dressing, butter, margarine and mayonnaise, which help absorb vitamin E, Morris said.

Morris said she has also found in separate studies that healthful fats, such as the monounsaturated and polyunsaturated fats found in vegetable oil, helped reduce the risk of memory loss and Alzheimer's disease.

The study's participants received at least two cognitive tests over a six-year period measuring skills from memory to spatial perception.

The study also found that the older the person, the greater the slowdown in the rate of memory loss if that person consumed lots of vegetables every day.

- REUTERS