2023-08-06 23:23:00
People who eat a diet rich in flavanols (or flavan-3-ols) have a better memory than those who eat little, shows a study published in May 2023 in Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences (PNAS).
Flavanols are compounds found in many plants such as apples, berries, plums, and beverages such as tea.
There are two main groups of flavanols, with many subgroups that have various structures and different effects on the body, explains Gunter Kuhnle from the University of Reading (UK) on The Conversation site.
For example, a serving of blueberries and a cup of tea might contain the same amount of flavanols, but they are different types, which do not have the same health effects.
The flavanols extracted from cocoa contain the two main types of flavanols.
Because foods such as cocoa, berries, and tea contain a combination of several types of flavanols, it is not yet clear which particular compounds are beneficial to health. But some research has linked a flavanol, epicatechin, to good vascular function. Cocoa and tea contain it.
Benefits for blood pressure and memory
To better understand how flavanols influence health, Kuhnle and his colleagues developed a urine test a few years ago that measures flavanol intake.
Through this test, they showed that people who consume a lot of flavanols have lower blood pressure and better memory than those who consume little.
When they developed this test, they investigated how various types of flavanols and foods influenced the results. This made it possible to estimate how many different flavanol-rich foods a person would need to eat to reach around 500 mg of flavanols per day – which is the amount used in studies and shown to have clinical benefits. (A diet rich in flavanols improves memory)
Number of servings to reach 500 mg of flavanols per day
According to these analyses, it only takes two and a half cups of green tea a day to obtain the recommended 500 mg of flavanols. Just under a cup of millet (grain of sorghum) can also provide this amount.
But if you want to draw flavanols from a single type of fruit or vegetable, you have to consume a lot. So, it takes almost 15 cups of raspberries to get 500 mg of flavanols. The best way to get enough flavanols is therefore to combine different fruits and vegetables.
Here is a ranking of foods, compiled by Kuhnle and colleagues, according to the number of servings (one large fruit or one cup) required to get 500 mg of flavanol.
Millet: 0.8 serving Pinto beans: 1.5 Kidney beans: 1.8 Green tea: 2.5 Fava beans: 2.6 Blackberries: 2.9 Pecans: 3.1 Plums: 3.2 Hazelnuts: 3.8 Cranberries: 4.1 Apples (with skin): 4.2 Blueberries (blueberries): 6.2 Strawberries: 6.8 Peaches: 6.9 Black tea: 7.9 Sweet cherries (sweetened): 9.9 Buckwheat: 11.6 Pears: 11.8 Yellow nectarines: 14.1 Raspberries: 14.7
It is important to know, underlines the researcher, that if the flavanols used in many studies have been extracted from cocoa, chocolate as such (even dark) is unfortunately a very poor source of flavanols (despite what some articles claim ), as these are eliminated in the transformation process.
Flavanols are one of six types of flavonoids whose health benefits are largely attributed to their antioxidant properties.
For more information, see the links below.
Psychomedia with sources: The Conversation, PNAS.
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