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Consuming flavonoids may help maintain body weight
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Weight in adulthood may be better maintained with increasing consumption of foods rich in flavonoids, study findings show.
Monica L. Bertoia, MPH, PhD, of Harvard T.H. Chan School of Public Health, and colleagues evaluated data from the Health Professionals Follow-up Study, Nurses’ Health Study and Nurses’ Health Study II on 124,086 adults to determine whether dietary intake of specific flavonoid subclasses is linked to weight change over time.
Across the three studies, intake of flavonoid polymers was the highest and intake of flavones was the lowest.
An inverse association was found between weight gain and consumption of most flavonoid subclasses, including flavonols, flavan-3-ols, anthocyanins and flavonoid polymers. The strongest link was found with anthocyanins (–0.23 lb per additional standard deviation/day), flavonoid polymers (–0.18 lb per additional standard deviation/day) and flavonols (–0.16 lb per additional standard deviation/day). Citrus fruits and juices provided 83% of flavanones and 44% of flavones.
“Our results suggest that choosing high flavonoid fruits and vegetables, such as apples, pears, berries and peppers, may help with weight control,” the researchers wrote. “Most Americans consume less than one cup (less than two servings) of fruits and less than 2 cups of vegetables daily, and juice and potatoes a major contributors to intake. Beyond increasing intake to current recommendations of two cups of fruit and 2.5 cups of vegetables per day, people may be able to maximize their health benefit by including optimal fruits and vegetables in their daily diets.” – by Amber Cox
Disclosure: Bertoia reports no relevant financial disclosures. Please see the full study for a list of all other authors’ relevant financial disclosures.
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