What do strawberries, blueberries and spinach have in common? One day you may get this question in an IQ test, so pay attention. The answer is 'brain food'. This is not a paid advertisement for the brain food industry; it's from findings of the Society of Neuroscience.
For centuries, even millennia, the benefits of certain naturally growing foods and herbs have been known, especially in non-Western societies. In the USA and Europe, we tend to discount the folklore that exists around the healing and restorative powers of natural substances, even when there is an impressive body of evidence to support it.
Don't get me wrong; I'm a firm believer in science and technology. I live inside a computer, at least according to my wife. But, to be fair, Western scientific knowledge and theory hasn't always got it right as far as our eating habits are concerned.
I thought the recent movie "Pleasantville" was pretty good. Sucked into a 1950's TV series, the spoilt teenagers are horrified to be served up mountains of pancakes drowning in butter and syrup, together with mounds of bacon and sausage. Their loving parents look on fondly and mother says something like “You have to eat a good breakfast to grow strong and healthy.”
It's encouraging to find that scientists are finally catching on to what my granny, and her granny, and probably our Cro-Magnon granny many times removed knew instinctively: that some foods will make you quicker, the better to avoid dinosaurs and sabre-tooth tigers, and some foods will make you more alert, , the better to avoid dinosaurs and sabre-tooth tigers. And eating spinach may not endow you with instant muscles, à la popeye, but it might be smarter than you think - it could make you think smarter.
If you don't like spinach, the brain scientists suggest that a cupful of blueberries or strawberries might come in handy just before that job interview or exam. They will require irrefutable evidence before actually validating brain-boosting foods, but hey, I've never heard of spinach and strawberries and blueberries doing any actual harm.
The scientific rationale behind the Society of Neuroscience's conclusions comes from intriguing new pointers, mostly from animal studies, as to how the mind stays youthful as we get older. For instance, a blueberry-rich diet appears to reduce levels of a brain chemical, NF-Kappa-B, which is linked to memory loss.
My own unscientific tests were at first inconclusive. I guzzled down several bowlfuls of strawberries and blueberries, together with lashings of cream. (I've heard somewhere that all true scientific tests require a placebo.} Somehow, though, I forgot the spinach. However, I heard that research has shown that sugar fuels the brain, and may boost your memory. Cookies seem to contain just the right amount! So, I ate a whole bunch of sugar foods. The following day, I remembered to eat them again. In fact, I have exciting news for the Neuroscience people. Cookies and doughnuts work well, even for long-term memory.
Now that I've fixed my memory, I have to concentrate on fixing my waistline, and there is a body of research that points up dietary methods to increase powers of concentration. First, avoid refined carbohydrates, and even simple carbohydrates such as fruits and fruit juices on days when prolonged brainwork is expected. Variations in blood-sugar levels generated by the metabolism of these carbohydrates can cause mood swings which will affect concentration, whereas high-protein foods produce more sustained blood-sugar levels, permitting easier concentration for longer periods. Concentrate on eating nuts, seeds, cheese, eggs, and meat before that crucial job interview or exam.
All this, of course, does not add up to a brain-boosting diet, or any other kind of diet, but then, the same applies to a lot of diet diets. We are beginning, however, to understand, scientifically, some of the elements of folk medicine and natural eating thet have been around for a long time.
By all means, before a big meeting, an important exam, or your upcoming chess match with the latest world master, eat wisely; enjoy your cheese eggs and meat, followed by blueberry walnut pie. It won't do any harm, and will probably aid your concentration and memory, especially if you get a good nights sleep with it.
