growing up, your parents probably told you time and time again to eat your vegetables. they’re right of course, but it’s unlikely they knew that vegetables could help with your ability to sort through information in your brain, that is, your verbal fluency.
a new study
looking at anglophone canadians aged 45 to 85, found that individuals who consumed more vegetables and fruits and more nuts and pulses scored higher on tests of verbal fluency.
verbal fluency refers toâ the ability to retrieve information from memory. a verbal fluency test (vft) asks an individual to name as many words as possible within a category in one minute.
published in the journal of nutrition health and aging, the study analyzed 8,574 participants, 1,126 of whom were immigrants who had arrived in canada 20 or more years prior. all participants were free from dementia.
two tests were used. the
controlled oral word association test,
where a person is given a word and must state the first associated word that comes to mind. the other test is the
animal fluency test
, which involves naming as many animals as possible within one minute.
“these findings are consistent with other research that has found a mediterranean diet high in fruits, vegetables, nuts, and legumes is protective against cognitive decline,” reported co-author dr. karen davison, a nutrition informatics research program director at kwantlen polytechnic university in a press release. “every increase in average daily fruit and vegetable intake was linked to higher verbal fluency scores, but the best outcomes were found among those who consumed at least six servings a day.”