If you want to keep your brain as fit and alert as possible, you better start stocking up on your leafy greens. We’ve always been told the importance of eating your vegetables, but the latest research is the proof in the pudding (or well spinach). Researchers at Rush University in Chicago evaluated the diet and mental agility of nearly 1,000 elderly people every year over periods of two to 10 years, with the average participant age being 81 years old. Taking part in 19 tests that assessed mental function, researchers also examined what food and drink the people in the study were consuming. The findings showed that adults who ate leafy green vegetables such as spinach and kale once or twice a day suffered significantly less cognitive decline than those who did not. Speaking at the Experimental Biology Conference in Boston, researchers revealed that those who munched on their greens reduced their mental decline by an average of 11 years. Even more telling was that the results remained unchanged even after other factors such as education, exercise and family history of dementia were taken into account. Lead researcher Martha Clare Morris said: “Losing one’s memory or cognitive abilities is one of the biggest fears for people as they get older. Since declining cognitive ability is central to Alzheimer’s disease and dementias, increasing consumption of green leafy vegetables could offer a very simple, affordable and non-invasive way of potentially protecting your brain from Alzheimer’s disease and dementia.”