Association of Dietary Intake of Flavonols With Changes in Global Cognition and Several Cognitive Abilities

Article Critique - Flavonols
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Article Critique - Flavonols
Key Assumption
According the online article, a key assumption in the study is that flavonols may have a beneficial impact on cognitive health, potentially leading to a slower rate of memory decline.
Claims
The assumption is supported by a variety of claims in the article that try to explain the phenomenon being studied. Firstly, flavonols are described to be a group of phytochemicals in plants that possess anti-inflammatory and antioxidant properties crucial for the body. Secondly, the study is reported to have been undertaken on a sample size of 961 individuals without dementia, with an average age of 81 years. The participants were split into five different groups, with each having a different flavonols intake ranging from 5mg to 15mg per day who then filled a questionnaire annually on their food intake and later completed cognitive tests over a period of 7 years (ScienceDaily, 2022). The cognitions scores were based on a global standard that measured any cognitive decline over 19 different tests.
Apart from that, the results reported showed that the participants with the highest flavonol intake had a slower cognitive decline rate of 0.4 units per decade compared to those with the lowest flavonols intake. Additionally, the effects of four specific flavonols including kaempferol, quercetin, myricetin, and isorhamnetin were also analyzed to determine their impact. The results indicated that kaempferol, quercetin, myricetin resulted in slower cognitive decline rates while isorhamnetin had no impact on cognition (ScienceDaily, 2022) Lastly, it was suggested that flavonols can protect the brain from oxidative stress and inflammation which c...