Weight Articles

A major new study has shown that eating foods with high levels of compounds called flavonoids might help to reduce weight gain in adults. Flavonoids, which are natural compounds found in many fruits and vegetables, are found in high quantities in apples, pears, berries, and peppers.

The study, published on 27 January in the British Medical Journal, was the result of research conducted by teams from the University of East Anglia in the UK and Harvard University in the US. The research took in data from well over 100,000 people over a period of over two decades. The research studied the effect of consuming a number of different types of flavonoids on weight gain in middle-aged and older adults. It found that an increased consumption in most flavonoids was correlated with either weight loss or weight maintenance, among both men and women.

Among the best results found were those for anthocyanins, which are found in blueberries, strawberries, cherries, blackberries, grapes, radishes and blackcurrants. Flavonoid polymers, found in tea and apples, and flavonols, found in tea and onions, were also seen by the researchers to be particularly beneficial. The research suggested that eating a single portion of such foods each day may help individuals to control their weight – doing so, they said, may help people shed up to one or two pounds. The researchers argue that in middle-aged and older people, even such small changes in weight can have a substantial impact on health, by reducing an individual’s risk of developing high blood pressure, heart disease, diabetes, or cancer. As Professor Aedin Cassidy said, “people tend to put on weight as they get older. But we found that people who ate a few portions of flavonoid-rich fruits and vegetables a week maintained a healthy weight, and even lost a little.”

The researchers stressed that flavonoid consumption should be part of a balanced diet, and that the recommended daily intake of five portions of fruit and vegetables every day should not be forgotten or overlooked. Rather, this new information may help individuals to tailor their health-eating regimes: “people may be able to improve the health benefits of eating fruit and vegetables by choosing those including high levels of flavonoids, such as apples, pears, and berries.”

Source: ‘Dietary flavonoid intake and weight maintenance: three prospective cohorts of 124, 086 US men and women followed for up to 24 years’. Published in the BMJ on January 27.