There’s a tendency for us to put on weight as we age, but this can be prevented when we eat a little of the fruit each day. And it works at any age and for both sexes, say researchers from Harvard University.
The key compounds are the flavonoids, which can also be found in tea, chocolate and wine, say the researchers who assessed the diets of 124,086 men and women over a 24-year period. They focused on three age and gender groups: women with an average age of 36 at the start of the study, another of women aged 48, and men with an average age of 47.
Those who ate the fruits every day were able to maintain their weight, and some reported losing a few pounds besides. The flavonoid-rich fruits that also contained anthocyanins – the pigments that give the fruits their blue or purple colouring – were especially effective at weight control. These included the blueberries, strawberries, cherries, blackberries, grapes and blackcurrants, as well as radishes.
(Source: BMJ, 2016; 352: i17)
