Flavonoids are found in foods such as berries, citrus fruits and apples. Research already shows that people who have a higher flavonoid intake tend to live longer, and are less likely to get any of the major chronic diseases such as dementia, diabetes or heart disease.
But now, researchers from Edith Cowan University, Queen’s University Belfast and Harvard T.H. Chan School of Public Health, have found that these compounds can help people age better, as well.
Their study analysed data from 62,743 women and 23,687 men over 24 years, drawing on data from two longitudinal studies: the NHS (121,701 female nurses) and Health Professionals Follow-up Study (or HPFS, covering 51,529 male health professionals).
It found that women with the highest flavonoid intakes had a 15% lower risk of frailty, a 12% lower risk of impaired physical function, and a 12% lower risk of poor mental health compared to those with the lowest intakes.
Flavonoids are already well-known for reducing oxidative stress and inflammation, supporting the health of blood vessels, as well as helping with skeletal muscle mass. These are all important for preventing frailty and physical function and mental health as people age.
The research is important as medical research increases its focus on not just helping people live longer, but also stay as healthy for as long as possible.
“By mitigating risks of frailty, impaired physical function, and poor mental health, habitual consumption of key flavonoid-rich foods—such as blueberries, apples, red wine, oranges, and tea—may augment healthy aging,” note the researchers.
“From a public health standpoint, a modest yet achievable adjustment, involving an increase of 3 servings a day in flavonoid-rich foods, translated to 6%–11% lower risk across all 3 outcomes in females and 15% lower risk of poor mental health in males.
“Overall, these findings underscore the potential for simple dietary modifications to impact overall quality of life and contribute to the optimization of healthy aging.”
Higher flavonoid intake was also linked to a lower risk of poor mental health, although this was stronger in women than men.
“Our study contributes to the growing body of evidence supporting a potential link between flavonoids and a reduction in depression symptoms,” note the researchers. “Our findings align with previous research in the NHS and NHS II, where females with the highest intakes of flavonols, flavones, and flavanones had 7%–10% lower risk of depression than those with the lowest intakes.
“Among males in the HPFS, moderate to high intakes of flavonols, flavan-3-ol polymers, anthocyanins, and flavones were associated with lower risk of poor mental health although associations were not as pronounced as for the NHS.”
However, these sex-specific associations are also an area for further research.
“It is important to note that although less consistent associations were found among males in the HPFS, this should not discount the potential impact of flavonoids on aging outcomes within this demographic,” noted researchers.
“Notably, sex-specific associations have not been extensively reported in existing literature; the majority of previous studies were conducted in cohorts consisting solely of either males or females or failed to examine sex-specific differences. The lack of associations in males in this study might be attributed to the comparatively shorter follow-up time resulting in fewer events and reduced statistical power.”
Source: Nicola P Bondonno, Yan Lydia Liu, Francine Grodstein, Eric B Rimm, Aedín Cassidy: ‘Associations between flavonoid-rich food and flavonoid intakes and incident unhealthy aging outcomes in older United States males and females’.
The American Journal of Clinical Nutrition, Volume 121, Issue 5, 2025, https://doi.org/10.1016/j.ajcnut.2025.02.010.
