Food, learning, and memory: the definitive (current) guide!

You've heard the old adage ‘you are what you eat’, but have you ever stopped to think exactly how food affects how well you learn? Of course, it's complicated, but there's a stream of research that points to some reasonable correlations. Here's what the current research (2012) says (and remember, science ain't static – next week this could all be overturned!).

Fish is a brain food:  Studies into the connection between fish and brain health look quite conclusive: eating fish stems the loss of cognitive function (thinking ability and memory). It also has a massive cardiovascular function, which obviously helps thinking. A diet deficient in omega-3 fatty acids, according to a UCLA study, causes increased brain aging and decrease in cognitive function. Dr Zaldy Tan, an Alzheimer’s researcher from the University of California at Los Angeles reported that "People with lower blood levels of omega-3 fatty acids had lower brain volumes that were equivalent to about two years of structural brain ageing." If you don't like fish, fret not: avocados are also high in Omega 3s.

"I remember everything now!"

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Too much meat and butter is bad: Researchers at Brigham and Women’s Hospital in Boston, a teaching affiliate of Harvard medical school, found that women who ate the highest amounts of saturated fat — animal fats like red meat and butter — had worse overall cognitive function and memory over four years of testing compared to those who ate the lowest amounts.

 

Cheers for cheese and milk: US and Australian researchers conducted a study with 1000 people and found those who have dairy products such as milk, cheese and yoghurt regularly score better on tests of mental ability than people who never, or rarely, eat dairy products.

Remember with walnuts: The Journal of Alzheimer’s Disease recently published a report on consumption of walnuts and found that eating walnuts associated with better memory and cognitive function. Antioxidants in walnuts may help counteract cognitive decline and act against cognitive diseases including Alzheimer’s.

 

Berries fend off mental decline:  According to research published in the Annalsof Neurology, women who eat one or more servings of blueberries or two or more servings of strawberries a week over two decades had brains that were 2.5 years younger than those hardly any berries (based on memory tests).

Curcumin cognisance: Turmeric, the Indian spice, which contains curcumin, may protect the brain and thereby memory. Numerous studies are have been published and  UCLA are currently looking for volunteers to study the impact of curcumin on memory.

Suger baby – a devil in disguise? Again UCLA researchers come up trumps on the brain research, and report in the journal Physiology, that a high sugar diet for as little as six weeks can slow your brain. “Our findings illustrate that what you eat affects how you think,” noted Fernando Gomez-Pinilla, a professor of neurosurgery at the David Geffen School of Medicine at UCLA.

And to back up the powerful effect of some of the foods on this post, this study shows that omega-3 fatty acids and curry spice combat neurological symptoms experienced in spinal cord injuries.

Let's design a Memory Meal (MM) or Brain Meal (BM) using these ingredients: Salmon tossed in turmeric with a cheese and walnut sauce, followed by some fresh strawberries and blueberries. Not that bad!