Friday, 16th August 2019
With a lot of different foods recommended as part of a healthy diet it can get confusing at times, but a recent study has shown some that you should definitely be including in your diet.
The research conducted by Edith Cowan University in Australia suggested that you should add a cup of tea, some broccoli, a handful of blueberries and an orange to your daily diet, because the study suggests these foods will make you live longer. This might sound like a peculiar combination however it provides a high daily dose of flavonoids, which are naturally-occurring compounds found in some food and drinks.
It is suggested that by consuming a high amount of flavonoids each day it will protect against heart disease and cancer, which can lower the overall risk of death. In addition to this, researchers from ECU’s School of Medical and Health Sciences analysed the diets of more than 53,000 people over 23 years and found those who regularly consumed “moderate to high” amounts of flavonoid-rich foods were less likely to die from cancer or heart disease than others.
Although the study found a lower risk of death in all who ate flavonoid-rich foods, it also discovered that there was a protective effect that appeared to be strongest for those at high risk of chronic diseases due to cigarette smoking and those who drank more than two standard alcoholic drinks a day. In conclusion, participants that were consuming about 500mg of total flavonoids each day had the lowest risk of a cancer or heart disease-related death.