Which foods are good (or not) for memory

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In Swann’s Way, the first part of the novel In Search of Lost Time, by the French writer Marcel Proust, the taste of a madeleine biscuit soaked in tea instantly triggers a childhood memory for the protagonist.

Since then, that experience that (almost) all of us have had—the association between memory and food—became known as the “Proustian moment” or “Proust’s madeleine.”

These memories associated with food “are formed without any conscious editing”, Susan Krauss Whitbourne, professor emeritus of psychology at the University of Massachusetts Amherst (USA), explained to BBC Travel.

“They involve very basic, non-verbal areas of the brain that can bypass your awareness,” he explains. “That’s why you can have strong emotional reactions when you eat a food that triggers these deep unconscious memories.”

“Even if you can’t put those memories into words, you know there’s ‘something’ the food triggers deep in your past. The memory goes beyond the food itself, to the associations you have with that memory from a long time ago , whether of a place or person.”

But are there foods that help to enhance this relationship between food and memory?

According to psychologist and master of nutrition Kimberley Wilson, there are foods and drinks that can have a surprisingly positive or negative effect on memory.

different memories

Memory is our ability to recall information from the recent or distant past.

We have three types of memory: immediate, working and long-term.

Our immediate memory can only hold information for a short period of time: you use it to dial a phone number someone has just told you without writing it down.

We use our working memory to think in action.

In tasks like talking, it helps us remember what the person just said, understand its meaning, connect it to the previous conversation, and then share our own thoughts.

With our long-term memory, we remember information from days or years in the past.

The memories that are stored in it have been moved out of our immediate memory in a process called “consolidation”.

What we eat can have an impact on how our memory works.

In a study of older adults with memory problems, 500ml of red grape juice a day for 12 weeks allowed them to learn more words compared to the placebo group.

In studies of children who ate 240 grams of fresh blueberries, it allowed them to remember more words and recall them more accurately 2 hours later.

So are red grapes and blueberries special?

So-so. Both are rich sources of anthocyanins, a type of plant chemical called polyphenols, which gives them their deep color. These polyphenol compounds are also found in other fruits.

When metabolized in the body, they improve blood vessel flexibility and blood flow to the brain. This, in turn, provides more energy nutrients and oxygen, improving our cognitive performance.

And it’s not just the fruits.

Long-term consumption of green tea has also been linked to better short-term memory, attention to working memory, and reduced risk of cognitive decline.

There’s also good news for chocolate lovers, because cocoa improves cerebral blood flow, although it has to be dark chocolate, which contains more than 70% cocoa solids for you to reap the benefits.

The general rule of thumb is that the healthier the diet — rich in fruits, vegetables, whole grains, legumes and oily fish — the larger the brain’s memory center and the better the memory performance.

processed foods

But if chocolate, berries and green tea are good for our memories, are there any foods that aren’t?

Decades of animal studies and a growing number of human trials show that a diet high in processed foods has a detrimental effect on learning and memory.

In one study, 110 healthy people who normally ate a nutritious diet were asked to eat a diet high in processed foods for just one week.

On the menu, two waffles for breakfast on four of the days and two junk food (English term for high-calorie, nutrient-poor foods) any time of the week.

Within days, the highly processed diet led to problems with memory, learning and lack of appetite control.

A diet high in processed foods and sugars and low in fruits, vegetables and fiber is also associated with an increased risk of neurodegenerative diseases such as Alzheimer’s.

Research indicates that taking small steps to make our diets more nutritious — an extra piece of fruit at breakfast, an extra serving of vegetables at dinner — can help improve our memories of today and protect them for the future, concludes the psychologist Kimberley Wilson.

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