You’ve heard it a hundred times; breakfast is the most important meal of the day. But it turns out, it’s not just a saying. What you eat in the morning could give your brain the jumpstart it needs.
That’s why what you eat for breakfast truly matters. And with just one simple addition, something you likely already have in your kitchen, you can make your morning meal even more powerful.
Research shows that breakfast has a significant impact on brain function and can help boost memory, especially for those feeling a mental fog. The journal Food & Function, where the study is mentioned, showcases the science behind a good, healthy breakfast and how this impacts your brain.
In the journal, it is stated that there is no need of any humongous change to feel the difference, instead a handful of nuts is all. To be precise, 50g of walnuts, which you can take in with your morning muesli and yoghurt.
The University of Reading first conducted a kind of study that included 32 healthy young adults aged between 18 and 30, and they consumed both a walnut-rich brekkie and a calorie-matched meal on separate occasions. Consequently, the participants then went through multiple cognitive tests, which helped the scientists monitor their brains, and they eventually came to the result that walnut-based breakfast consumers had better memory and also faster reaction time.
The team states that, it is a mixture of several nutrients which includes omega-3 alpha linolenic fatty acids, plant based compounds called polyphenols and also adequate protein, which are found in the walnuts that highly helped bettering the cognitive performance and eventually emerging a key ‘brain food’
Walnuts are the new brain superfood for stressed students: Research pic.twitter.com/PCgq6MOXVI
— The Times Of India (@timesofindia) December 18, 2022
Professor Claire Williams, who led the research from the University of Reading, said: “This study helps strengthen the case for walnuts as brain food. A handful of walnuts with breakfast could give young adults a mental edge when they need to perform at the top of their game. It’s particularly exciting that such a simple dietary addition could make a measurable difference to cognitive performance.”
Dr Adrian Whyte who worked in the university earlier at the time of regulating the experiment currently works at the University of Winchester stated to the BBC that walnuts are those rare foods which offer a combination of chemicals that boost the brain functions.
“Other foods, notably fruits like blueberries, contain flavonoids but the particular array of chemicals in walnuts may work in a particularly synergistic fashion whereby the protein/peptides regulate the absorption of the Omega 3s which, in turn, regulate the absorption of the flavonoids,” he said.
