10 foods to boost your brainpower

10 foods to boost your brainpower

Increase your mental agility and improve your memory by choosing the right foods

Opt for wholegrain food
Walk into a room and forget why you're there? Forget already what this article's about? Make sure you're eating a diet rich in a mix of wholegrain foods such as cereals, wheatbran, wheatgerm and wholewheat pasta. One study found that women who increased their folic acid, vitamin B12 and vitamin B6 intake showed an improvement in recalling information compared to women who were not taking a supplement.

Eating oily fish helps boost brainpower Enjoy oily fish
The essential omega-3 fatty acids - found in oily fish, as well as fish oil, walnut oil and flaxseeds (linseeds) - are high in DHA, fatty acid crucial to the health of our nervous system. Low DHA levels have been linked to a higher risk of developing Alzheimer's disease and memory loss. Fish also contains iodine, which is known to improve mental clarity.

Binge on blueberries Research from Tufts University in the United States and published in the Journal of Neuroscience suggests that blueberry extract can improve short term memory loss. Widely available, so there's no excuse!

Eat more tomatoes

Tomatoes are high in lycopene - a powerful antioxidant There is good evidence to suggest that lycopene, a powerful antioxidant found in tomatoes, could help protect against the kind of free radical damage to cells which occurs in the development of dementia, particularly Alzheimer's.