Daily serving of leafy greens could help prevent dementia, study suggests

Eating plenty of leafy green vegetables every day could ward off dementia in later life, new research suggests.

A study of elderly people found those who ate around one serving of leafy greens each day had brains that were the equivalent of 11 years younger than those who never or rarely ate the vegetables.

A serving equalled about 100g of cooked spinach, kale or collard greens such as cabbage or sprouts, or about 200g of lettuce salad.

Those who performed the best in memory and intelligence tests ate an average of about 1.3 servings per day.

Dr Martha Morris, of Rush University Medical Centre in Chicago, led the study published in the journal Neurology.

She said: "Adding a daily serving of green, leafy vegetables to your diet may be a simple way to foster your brain health.

"Projections show sharp increases in the percentage of people with dementia as the oldest age groups continue to grow in number, so effective strategies to prevent dementia are critical."

Her team analysed the eating habits of 960 people, with an average age of 81, who did not have dementia and tracked them for an average of 4.7 years.

After annual tests on their thinking and memory skills, the researchers...