Eating vegetables, particularly leafy greens, seems to be effective in slowing down memory loss associated with aging, new research reveals.

The research was carried out at Rush University Medical Center in Chicago and is published in the journal Neurology.

While all of the study participants experienced some loss of faculties over the 10-year research period, the annual decline among those who ate three to four servings (one-half cup each) of vegetables daily was 40 percent slower than it was among people who consumed less than one serving daily.

Eating fruit did not seem to have a similar effect, a finding that surprised the researchers.