Eating foods and drinks that contain flavonoids, such as berries, apples, orange juice, tea, and red wine, may reduce the risk of Parkinson’s disease in men by 40%, according to Harvard School of Public Health (HSPH) researchers.
Women can benefit from flavonoids, too, but only from eating berries, the researchers found.
The researchers reviewed 20 years of nutrition and health data from almost 50,000 men in the Health Professional Follow-up Study and more than 80,000 women in the Nurses’ Health Study.
“For total flavonoids, the beneficial result was only in men,” said Xiang Gao, research scientist in the HSPH Department of Nutrition, in an April 4, 2012 U.S. News & World Report article. “Berries could be a neuroprotective agent. People can include berries in their regular diet. There are no harmful effects from berry consumption, and they lower the risk of hypertension, too.”
Read the U.S. News & World Report article
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