Dear Adrian,
In this letter, we’re going to be reviewing a dietary hack that may help us live longer and healthier, extending what’s being called our health span.
Recently, university researchers from the United Kingdom and Australia published a study in the journal Nature Food that highlighted the importance of flavonoid consumption from the foods we eat.
If you’re not familiar with flavonoids, they are beneficial plant compounds that are part of a larger group of plant molecules called polyphenols – which I think are one of nature’s greatest dietary gifts to our health.
You consume flavonoids every day when you’re eating fruits, vegetables, nuts, enjoying a piece of dark chocolate or drinking tea or coffee.
Flavonoid consumption matters because they support many biological systems in the body.
At the top of the list is how they help boost our antioxidant defense to reduce oxidative stress, and work to promote a healthy inflammation response in the body – both key to healthy aging and longevity.
What Made This Study Different
Like previous studies, this new study linked the quantity of flavonoids being consumed to a longer life span and better health.
However, the researchers also identified another important trend in the data, which is the diversity of the types of flavonoids you consume may be even more important - and yield better outcomes than just the total number of milligrams you get in a typical day.
In a moment, we’ll break down what this means, and tie it back to how these findings can help guide you when making choices about the dietary supplements you take.
First, a little background on this study and how it was done.
Study Details
The researchers analyzed data from about 125,000 adults between the ages of 40 and 70 years old, whose diets and health were tracked for about 10 years as part of the UK Biobank initiative.
Previous observational studies like this one have found that consuming at least 500mg to 600mg a day of flavonoids was associated with better longevity and health over time.
In this study, the researchers classified the 125,000 participants into 5 groups depending on their daily flavonoid intake, from highest intake to lowest intake.
Those in the group with the highest daily flavonoid intake averaged about 1,400mg per day, with the lowest group averaging just 233mg per day.
The average for the entire group, all 125,000 folks, was about 792mg of flavonoid intake daily, which sounds like a good number (and it is) with one caveat:
About 67% of these flavonoids were from just one source – black or green tea.
This matters because flavonoids from different food sources support different areas of our health.
For example, the catechin flavonoids in tea are great for supporting certain aspects of immune health, where certain berries may be good for heart and artery health, and the flavonoids in other fruits may be very helpful for brain health and cognitive function, and so on.
Does Flavonoid Diversity Matter?
This led researchers to investigate the importance of the diversity of the food sources providing the flavonoids, not just the total amount.
For example, if a participant was getting 1,000mg of flavonoids daily, was it relevant to health outcomes if they came from 5 sources or 12 food sources?
After analyzing the data, the research team concluded that the optimal scenario for health and lifespan was high flavonoid intake from a very diverse group of food sources.
This makes logical sense because that combination can give your body the greatest protection and support.
When looking at factors like reducing the risk of mortality (i.e. death) from all causes, and other health conditions relating to heart, blood sugar and immune health, the researchers found the combination of high flavonoid intake from diverse food sources was associated with up to a 20% improvement in health outcomes during the study period.
You may be thinking, “well maybe this just reflects that those eating a lot of flavonoids had healthier diets and lifestyles, which is why they lived longer.”
There’s definitely some truth to that, but one of the advantages of having a larger dataset from 125,000 adults is the researchers can stratify and segment the data and try to account for such variables.
And that’s what they did in this study - making adjustments for factors like demographics, lifestyle, diet and medical history.
Even after these adjustments, the trends were the same, particularly when it came to the benefits from the diversity of flavonoid intake – those with greater flavonoid intake from diverse food sources, exhibited better health and lived longer, on average.
How This Can Relate to Supplement Choices
This data jibes with how we’ve advised clients to think about the supplements they take.
For example, instead of taking mega-doses of a single botanical or even a vitamin, we suggest taking scientifically studied doses of a variety of fruit and plant extracts to get the most from what you invest in supplements.
Like with dietary intake, we believe it’s better to give your body many different types of flavonoids, polyphenols and other beneficial plant compounds – because they work in different ways.
In our view, this diversity strategy offers the greatest potential to bolster your health, because you’re supporting numerous areas of your body, instead of a few.
A great example of this philosophy is our TrueBerry7 drink powder formula
This product combines extracts from 7 high potency berries and fruits, each packed with the flavonoids and polyphenols naturally found in those fruits.
As important, we didn’t pick these fruit ingredients and the dosages randomly.
Each of the 7 key ingredients in TrueBerry7 offers scientifically studied benefits supporting many key organs and health functions in our bodies.
For example, we have a Sicilian grape extract from Italy rich in flavonoid anthocyanins and proanthocyanidins shown to promote cognitive function, memory, and better moods.
The whole pomegranate powder from Spain offers blood pressure and artery health support, while promoting joint health and muscle endurance.
The amla fruit extract from India can help you maintain already-healthy levels of each part of the cholesterol score, including triglycerides and LDL cholesterol, and help promote blood flow.
You want immune system support? The organic elderberry extract can help you
This is just a small sampling of how the TrueBerry7 ingredients can support many parts of your health.
You still want your diet to include a wide range of flavonoids, but TrueBerry7 can help you fill gaps where you may fall short.
Yours for Good Health,
Carl Pradelli
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