Eating fruits and vegetables such as apples, pears, blueberries, strawberries, radishes and red peppers — high in a compound called flavonoids — can help prevent weight gain, a first of its kind research study by Harvard University and the University of East Anglia, published in British Medical Journal (BMJ), has found.
Flavonoids are naturally occurring bioactive compounds that represent a constituent of fruits and vegetables, beyond calorie and macronutrient content that could potentially influence body weight. Flavonoids are also present in various other foods and drinks, like tea, chocolate, and wine.
The findings of the study showed that high levels of flavonoids could help people maintain healthy weight. The research, which covered 1,24,086 women and men in the US who were monitored for up to 24 years, is the first to look at links between intake of various flavonoid subclasses and weight gain. Past studies have suggested that flavonoids may play a role in weight loss but most have focused on a single compound found in green tea and have had small sample sizes.
In the new study, researchers looked at seven flavonoid subclasses: flavanones, anthocyanins, flavan-3-ols, proanthocyanidins, flavonoid polymers, flavonols, and flavones.
The research findings assume significance in the Indian context primarily for two reasons — one, because of the increasing number of overweight and obese people, and second, because of the changing eating habits of Indians.
Sedentary lifestyle, lack of exercise, consumption of junk food and alcohol are rising in the country, making one in every five Indians either obese or overweight. According to latest estimates, India is just behind US and China with the third highest number of obese people in the world.
“Intake of fruits and vegetables is much less among Indians compared to those from other countries. Though vegetarians eat more of it as compared to non-vegetarians, it is limited to cooked vegetables where some of the nutrients along with fibres go missing. The intake of salads is very less in Indians,” says Dr Anoop Misra, chairman, Fortis CDOC hospital for diabetes and allied specialities.