Flavonoids and the brain

A diet rich in flavonoids has been shown to help improve cognitive function and to prevent age-related cognitive decline.

Flavonoids are found particularly concentrated in citrus fruits and buckwheat.

In 2007, Letenneur published a study investigating the relationship of dietary flavonoid intake and cognitive evolution.
The study followed 1640 people over a 10-year period measuring cognitive function by Mini-Mental State Examination (MMSE). The participants were put into four groups depending on the amounts of flavonoids they consumed in their diet.
Results showed an inverse correlation of flavonoid intake and cognitive decline over the 10-year period. Those with high flavonoid consumption lost on average 1.2 points on the MMSE scale whereas those with low amounts of flavonoids in their diet lost 2.1 points over the 10-year period. In other words, brain function in people on low flavonoid diets declined about twice as fast as compared to those consuming high amounts of flavonoids.

Other studies have illustrated the benefit of flavonoid supplementation for those with traumatic brain injury (TBI).
Brain injury can have long-lasting and devastating effects, resulting in headaches, noise and light sensitivity, failure to follow conversations, memory loss and aggression.

A randomised controlled trial reported in the European Journal of Neurology and conducted at AUT University, recruited 60 people with mild TBI and persistent cognitive difficulties. They were given 1000 mg of a pine bark extract (consisting of 90% flavonoids) or a placebo for 6–12 weeks. Results showed statistically significant improvements in cognitive functioning, and reduced cognitive failures, such as walking into a room and forgetting what you went for, failure to remember names and forgetting directions on a familiar route.

New evidence for the brain benefits of flavonoids is emerging all the time, and there is no doubt that these plant extracts have a protective effect for our brain health and function.