Estimated flavonoid intake of the elderly in the United States and around the world.

The aging population has been growing fast in the United States and worldwide. The morbidity of age-related chronic degenerative diseases has also been increasing in parallel. Numerous studies have reported that consumption of flavonoid-rich fruits and vegetables is inversely associated with such chronic diseases as Alzheimer's disease, age-related macular degeneration, cardiovascular disease, and osteoporosis. In establishing flavonoids as one of the contributors to the protective effects, the very first step is to estimate flavonoid intake from various dietary sources. Estimation of flavonoid intake from dietary sources has been feasible since 2003 when the U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) released the database for the flavonoid content of selected foods. Since then, several articles have been published in which flavonoid intake in various subpopulation groups was estimated from relatively large, current databases of flavonoid concentration data. However, information is still limited on the intake by seniors in the United States and worldwide. This review summarizes the most current estimates of flavonoid intake by seniors in the United States and elsewhere.