6 Best food for the brain to boost brain capacity and memory

6 Best Food for the brain 

Your brain is everything. Do not take your brain health easily 

The brain is in charge of everything. It is keeping your heart beating and lungs breathing and allows you to move, feel, and think.

It is highly important to keep your brain in peak working condition. So, start eating what this blog brings you and stimulate the brain more than an average person.  
The foods you eat keep your brain healthy and can improve specific mental tasks, such as memory and concentration.

1. Fatty fish

When people talk about brain foods, fatty fish is often at the top of the list.

This type of fish includes salmon, trout, albacore tuna, herring, and sardines, all of which are rich sources of omega-3 fatty acids (1Trusted Source). Buy now

About 60% of your brain is made of fat; half of that fat comprises omega-3 fatty acids (2Trusted Source).

Your brain uses omega-3s to build brain and nerve cells, and these fats are essential for learning and memory 

Omega-3s also offer several additional benefits for your brain. For one thing, they may slow age-related mental decline and help ward off Alzheimer’s disease.

Some research also suggests that people who eat fish regularly tend to have more gray matter in their brains. Grey matter contains most of the nerve cells that control decision-making, memory, and emotion (9Trusted Source).

Overall, fatty fish is an excellent choice for brain health.

SUMMARY

Fatty fish is a rich source of omega-3 fatty acids, a major building block of the brain. Omega-3s play a role in sharpening memory and improving mood, as well as protecting your brain against cognitive decline.

2. Blueberries

Blueberries provide numerous health benefits, including some that are specifically for your brain.

Blueberries and other deeply coloured berries deliver anthocyanins, a group of plant compounds with anti-inflammatory and antioxidant effects (17Trusted Source).

Antioxidants act against both oxidative stress and inflammation, conditions that can contribute to brain ageing and neurodegenerative diseases (18Trusted Source).

Some of the antioxidants in blueberries have been found to accumulate in the brain and help improve communication between brain cells (17Trusted Source, 19Trusted Source).

According to one review of 11 studies, blueberries could help improve memory and certain cognitive processes in children and older adults (20Trusted Source).

Try sprinkling them over your breakfast cereal, adding them to a smoothie, or enjoying as is for a simple snack

SUMMARY

Blueberries are packed with antioxidants that may delay brain aging and improve memory.

3. Broccoli

Broccoli contains powerful plant compounds, including antioxidants (28Trusted Source).

It’s also very high in vitamin K, delivering more than 100% of the Recommended Daily Intake (RDI) in a 1-cup (160-gram) serving of cooked broccoli (29Trusted Source).

This fat-soluble vitamin is essential for forming sphingolipids, a type of fat that’s densely packed into brain cells (30Trusted Source).

A few studies in older adults have linked a higher vitamin K intake to better memory and cognitive status (31Trusted Source, 32Trusted Source).

Beyond vitamin K, broccoli contains a number of compounds that give it anti-inflammatory and antioxidant effects, which may help protect the brain against damage (33Trusted Source).

SUMMARY

Broccoli contains a number of compounds that have powerful antioxidant and anti-inflammatory effects, including vitamin K.

4. Coffee

If coffee is the highlight of your morning, you’ll be glad to hear that it’s good for you.

Two main components in coffee — caffeine and antioxidants — can help support brain health.

The caffeine found in coffee has a number of positive effects on the brain, including (10Trusted Source):

• Increased alertness. Caffeine keeps your brain alert by blocking adenosine, a chemical messenger that makes you feel sleepy (11Trusted Source, 12Trusted Source).
• Improved mood. Caffeine may also boost some of your “feel-good” neurotransmitters, such as dopamine (13Trusted Source).
• Sharpened concentration. One study found that caffeine consumption led to short-term improvements in attention and alertness in participants completing a cognition test (14Trusted Source).

Drinking coffee over the long term is also linked to a reduced risk of neurological diseases, such as Parkinson’s and Alzheimer’s. The largest risk reduction was seen in those adults who consume 3-4 cups daily (10Trusted Source, 15Trusted Source).

This could at least be partly due to coffee’s high concentration of antioxidants (16Trusted Source).

SUMMARY

Coffee can help boost alertness and mood. It may also offer some protection against Alzheimer’s, thanks to its content of caffeine and antioxidants.

5. Pumpkin seeds

Pumpkin seeds contain powerful antioxidants that protect the body and brain from free-radical damage (34).

They’re also an excellent source of magnesium, iron, zinc, and copper (35Trusted Source).

Each of these nutrients is important for brain health:

• Zinc. This element is crucial for nerve signalling. Zinc deficiency has been linked to many neurological conditions, including Alzheimer’s disease, depression, and Parkinson’s disease (36Trusted Source, 37Trusted Source, 38Trusted Source).
• Magnesium. Magnesium is essential for learning and memory. Low magnesium levels are linked to many neurological diseases, including migraine, depression, and epilepsy (39Trusted Source, 40Trusted Source).
• Copper. Your brain uses copper to help control nerve signals. And when copper levels are out of whack, there’s a higher risk of neurodegenerative disorders, such as Alzheimer’s (41Trusted Source, 42Trusted Source.
• Iron. Iron deficiency is often characterized by brain fog and impaired brain function (43Trusted Source).

The research focuses mostly on these micronutrients, rather than pumpkin seeds themselves. However, since pumpkin seeds are high in these micronutrients, you can likely reap their benefits by adding pumpkin seeds to your diet.

SUMMARY

Pumpkin seeds are rich in many micronutrients that are important for brain function, including copper, iron, magnesium, and zinc.

6. Eggs

Eggs are a good source of several nutrients tied to brain health, including vitamins B6 and B12, folate, and choline (64)

Trusted Source).

Choline is an important micronutrient that your body uses to create acetylcholine, a neurotransmitter that helps regulate mood and memory (65Trusted Source, 66Trusted Source, 67Trusted Source).

Two older studies found that higher intakes of choline were linked to better memory and mental function (68Trusted Source, 69Trusted Source).

Nevertheless, many people do not get enough choline in their diet.

Eating eggs is an easy way to get choline, given that egg yolks are among the most concentrated sources of this nutrient.

Adequate intake of choline is 425 mg per day for most women and 550 mg per day for men, with just a single egg yolk containing 112 mg (Trusted Source65Trusted Source).

Furthermore, the B vitamins found in eggs also have several roles in brain health.

To start, they may help slow the progression of mental decline in older adults by lowering levels of homocysteine, an amino acid that could be linked to dementia and Alzheimer’s disease (70Trusted Source, 71Trusted Source).

Also, being deficient in two types of B vitamins — folate and B12 — has been linked to depression (72Trusted Source).

Folate deficiency is common in older people with dementia, and studies show that folic acid supplements can help minimize an age-related mental decline (73Trusted Source, 74Trusted Source).

Vitamin B12 is also involved in synthesizing brain chemicals and regulating sugar levels in the brain (72Trusted Source).

It’s worth noting that there’s very little direct research on the link between eating eggs and brain health. However, there is research to support the brain-boosting benefits of the specific nutrients found in eggs.

SUMMARY

Eggs are a rich source of several B vitamins and choline, which are important for regulating mood and promoting proper brain function and development.