Colourful calories: how brightly coloured food can reduce the risks of age-related conditions
Who doesn’t love a colourful display of fresh fruit and vegetables in a supermarket, even on the coldest of winter days? Or a beautifully cooked pink steak or creamy white fish? There’s growing evidence that your diet should be as naturally colourful as possible, to include foods which reduce the risk of age-related illnesses, including dementia and Alzheimer’s.
Why plants antioxidants are good for us
Colourful plant-based foods are rich in antioxidants. Plants produce antioxidants to protect their cells from damage through pests, disease and stress. When we eat plants, we benefit too, as the antioxidants we take in protect our own cells from damage by free radicals. These “rogue” molecules are naturally produced in our bodies as part of metabolism but attack our own cells, which can cause chronic disease and premature ageing.
Favourite flavonoids
One particular groups of antioxidants that are favourites for researchers looking into reduce the risk of age-related conditions are flavonoids. A new study from Queen’s University in Northern Ireland showed that if your diet is rich in the flavonoids, you could considerably reduce your risk of dementia.
“Consuming six additional servings of flavonoid-rich foods per day … was associated with a 28% lower risk of dementia. The findings were most noticeable in individuals with a high genetic risk as well as those with symptoms of depression.”
Flavonoids are present in a while range of everyday foods with the highest concentration to be found in apples, grapes, berries, citrus fruit, sweet peppers, onions, tea and dark chocolate.
The power of purple
The pigment that gives colour to purple foods is anthocyanin, a type of flavonoid. Blueberries are particularly rich in flavonoids, as discussed in our previous article.
According to a paper in Advances in Nutrition:
“Moderate intake of blueberries and/or anthocyanins with reduced risk of cardiovascular disease, death, and type 2 diabetes, and with improved weight maintenance and neuroprotection.”
Anthocyanins are absorbed by your gut, and interact with your natural gut bacteria to support gut health. Anthocyanins have also been linked to helping prevent age-related bone loss, improving longevity and reducing the risks of dementia and vision loss.
What to eat: any purple fruit and veg including blueberries, blackberries, pomegranates, purple sweet potato, black grapes, plums red cabbage. Interestingly, beetroots’s colour is due to betalain, which is still very good for you as it has protective antioxidant and anti-inflammatory properties.
Go green
Generally, the darker the greens the better they are for you, including helping with eye health. Darker greens contain a type of antioxidants known as carotenoids, and specifically lutein and zeaxanthin.
Related to Vitamin A, these two carotenoids are thought to help protect against age-related macular degeneration, and possibly even “dry” macular degeneration for those who already have the condition. The American Macular Degeneration Foundation (AMDF) even has a tasty recipe for Kale Chips!
What to eat: Kale, broccoli, spinach, and spring greens
See red
Carotenoid are a group of antioxidants that add the red, orange and yellow colours to vegetables. Tomatoes are red because they contain the carotenoid lycopene. Trials have suggested that lycopene could reduce your risk of cancers including lung, bowel and prostate.
“A 23-year study in more than 46,000 men looked at the link between lycopene and prostate cancer in more detail. Men who consumed at least two servings of lycopene-rich tomato sauce per week were 30% less likely to develop prostate cancer than those who ate less than one serving of tomato sauce per month.”
The good news is that cooking tomatoes breaks down their cells, making the lycopene more readily available to our gut. The really good news is that products like tomato puree and tomato sauce contain higher concentrations, with sun-dried tomatoes coming out on top with 15 times more lycopene than fresh tomatoes.
What to eat: ripe red tomatoes in any form you like, including fresh, tinned, pastes and sauces. Green and yellow varieties contain less lycopene.
In the pink
Fish has often been called a “brain food”, but evidence is now mounting that fish and seafood that are pink can help increase cognitive function in those with memory loss or decline. They are rich in the potent antioxidant astaxanthin (ASX), which in turn is contained in the microorganisms they eat.
“Natural ASX is a more significant antioxidant agent than other antioxidants, such as vitamin C, vitamin E, and β-carotene. Furthermore, several data show that ASX possesses important nutraceutical applications and health benefits, especially in healthy aging processes.“
However, long-lived large fish have been found to contain mercury in their tissues. In addition, low levels of pollutants including PCBs have been found in the body fat of farmed salmon. Health Canada suggests that:
“Wild salmon is lower in PCBs and has fewer ecological concerns than farmed salmon. Most canned salmon is wild.”
If you wish to eat fresh salmon, Health Canada advise that skin and fat should be removed before cooking, and you eat it in moderation. Read more here.
What to eat: salmon, trout, prawns and crab.
Home care and nutrition
At Vytality at Home, we partner with different health care professionals to help our home care clients stay healthy and live longer in their own homes, including our nutritionalist. So, we can help your loved one eat well and enjoy tasty nutritious meals at home with meal planning and doing the grocery shop too for the ingredients!
For more on our home care services in Calgary:
