Drinking orange juice reduces dementia risk by almost 50 percent: study

NEW YORK - Drinking a glass of orange juice daily could significantly reduce one's risk of getting dementia, a new study suggested.

The study, published in the journal Neurology, tracked nearly 28,000 US men over their consumption of fruit and vegetables from 1986 to 2002 and subjective cognitive function for nearly three decades. The mean age of men when data were first collected was 51 years.

The study found that men who drank a small glass of orange juice were 47 percent less likely to develop poor thinking skills than those who drank less than one serving per month.

It also found that men who ate the most vegetables were 34 percent less likely to report having experienced a reduction in memory function.

"Fruits and vegetables are rich in vitamins and nutrients, including antioxidants, that can help protect the brain," said Hannah Gardener, a researcher at the University of Miami who was not involved in the research, according to the Daily Mail.

"One of the most important factors in this study is that we were able to research and track such a large group of men over a 20-year period of time, allowing for very telling results," said Changzheng Yuan, a research fellow at Harvard T.H. Chan School of Public Health as well as the study's lead author.

As fruit juice is normally high in calories from concentrated fruit sugars, it is generally best to consume no more than four to six ounces per day, Yuan suggested.

Dementia refers to symptoms associated with a decline in memory or other thinking skills that are severe enough to reduce one's ability to perform everyday activities. It is estimated that 46.8 million people lived with dementia in 2015 worldwide and the number will rise to 131.5 million by 2050, according to the London-based non-profit organization Alzheimer's Disease International.