Celery Fish oil has been the star of the show when it comes to improving memory with food, but now there are two new foods stealing the limelight. Both celery and peppers contain a plant compound called luteolin, which has been found to reduce inflammation in the brain and so helps prevent memory problems that occur as a result of the inflammation.
Researchers from the University of Illinois put mice on special diets that contained luteolin, then assessed their brain cells to see whether the diet had a beneficial effect or not. What they found was that mice who’d had a diet rich in luteolin had fewer inflammatory cytokines, a type of signalling molecule that can cause a variety of symptoms, including sleepiness, loss of appetite, memory deficits and depressive behaviours.
"You have to remember that this was a study on mice, and the findings might not necessarily translate to humans,” says registered nutritionist Carina Norris, author of The Food Manual. “But the fact that a plant chemical found in a food as inexpensive and available as celery, has been found to inhibit kind of inflammatory changes that occur in the ageing brain, is certainly an interesting finding. And as celery is a healthy food, low in calories and high in fibre, I'd say this is another good reason to include it in your diet." Other foods containing luteolin include carrots, olive oil, peppermint, rosemary and chamomile.
First published October 20, 2010