How Consuming Tea, Dark Chocolate and Apples May Help You Live Longer? Study Sheds Light

A new study has found that those who consume a diverse range of foods rich in flavonoids, such as tea, berries, dark chocolate, and apples, could lower their risk of developing serious health conditions and have the potential to live longer. The findings are published in Nature Food.

The findings reveal that increasing the diversity of flavonoids within your diet could help prevent the development of health conditions such as type 2 diabetes, cardiovascular disease (CVD), cancer and neurological disease. Flavonoids are found in plant foods like tea, blueberries, strawberries, oranges, apples, grapes, and even red wine and dark chocolate.

The study tracked over 120,000 participants aging from 40 to 70 years old for over a decade.

ECU Research Fellow, first author and co-lead of the study Dr Benjamin Parmenter, made the initial discovery that a flavonoid-diverse diet is good for health.

"Flavonoid intakes of around 500 mg a day was associated with a 16% lower risk of all-cause mortality, as well as a ~10% lower risk of CVD, type 2 diabetes, and respiratory disease. That's roughly the amount of flavonoids that you would consume in two cups of tea."

Dr Parmenter added, however, that those who consumed the widest diversity of flavonoids, had an even lower risk of these diseases, even when consuming the same total amount. For example, instead of just drinking tea, it's better to eat a range of flavonoid-rich foods to make up your intake, because different flavonoids come from different foods.

Reference: Benjamin H. Parmenter, Alysha S. Thompson, Nicola P. Bondonno, Amy Jennings, Kevin Murray, Aurora Perez-Cornago, Jonathan M. Hodgson, Anna Tresserra-Rimbau, Tilman Kühn, Aedín Cassidy. High diversity of dietary flavonoid intake is associated with a lower risk of all-cause mortality and major chronic diseases. Nature Food, 2025; DOI: 10.1038/s43016-025-01176-1