A comprehensive study suggests that including tea, chia seeds, apples, and dark chocolate in your diet can help prevent age-related memory decline.
Researchers from Columbia and Brigham and Women’s Hospital/Harvard conducted the study and found that older adults who had low levels of flavanols in their diet experienced significant improvement in memory after replenishing these bioactive dietary components.
The research supports the idea that the aging brain requires specific nutrients, similar to how the developing brain needs certain nutrients for proper development. The study focused on the dentate gyrus, a region in the hippocampus responsible for learning new memories, and demonstrated that flavanols enhanced its function.
Previous research in mice had already shown that flavanols, particularly a bioactive substance called epicatechin, improved memory by promoting neuron and blood vessel growth in the hippocampus.
In the study, over 3,500 healthy older adults were randomly assigned to receive a daily flavanol supplement or a placebo for three years. Those with a healthy diet rich in flavanols showed only minor memory score improvements, while participants with a poorer diet and lower baseline flavanol levels experienced a significant increase in memory scores compared to both the placebo group and their own baseline memory.
These results strongly indicate that flavanol deficiency contributes to age-related memory loss.
