11 Best Foods to Boost Your Brain and Memory

Courtesy of Healthline

Ever walk into a room and forget why you’re there? Or forget a thought in the middle of a sentence?

These moments are caused by aging brain cells. Your brain and memory begin to decay starting at age 35.

As the control center of your body, your brain in charge of keeping your heart beating and lungs breathing and allowing you to move, feel, and think.

That’s why it’s a good idea to keep your brain in peak working condition.

The foods you eat play a role in keeping your brain healthy and can improve specific mental tasks, such as memory and concentration. So check out this list of 11 foods that can boost your brain.

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).

About 60% of your brain is made of fat, and half of that fat is comprised of 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 (2Trusted Source, 3Trusted Source).

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 (4Trusted Source, 5Trusted Source, 6Trusted Source, 7Trusted Source).

On the flip side, not getting enough omega-3s is linked to learning impairments, as well as depression (3Trusted Source, 8Trusted Source).

In general, eating fish seems to have positive health benefits.

Some research also suggests that people who eat fish regularly tend to have more gray matter in their brains. Gray 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. 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 consumes 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.

3. Blueberries

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

Blueberries and other deeply colored 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 aging 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.

4. Turmeric

Turmeric has generated a lot of buzz recently.

This deep-yellow spice is a key ingredient in curry powder and has a number of benefits for the brain.

Curcumin, the active ingredient in turmeric, has been shown to cross the blood-brain barrier, meaning it can directly enter the brain and benefit the cells there (21Trusted Source).

It’s a potent antioxidant and anti-inflammatory compound that has been linked to the following brain benefits:

  • May benefit memory. Curcumin may help improve memory in people with Alzheimer’s. It may also help clear the amyloid plaques that are a hallmark of this disease (21Trusted Source, 22Trusted Source).
  • Eases depression. Curcumin boosts serotonin and dopamine, both of which improve mood. One review found that curcumin could improve symptoms of depression and anxiety when used alongside standard treatments in people diagnosed with depression (23Trusted Source, 24Trusted Source).
  • Helps new brain cells grow. Curcumin boosts brain-derived neurotrophic factor, a type of growth hormone that helps brain cells grow. It may help delay age-related mental decline, but more research is needed (25Trusted Source, 26Trusted Source).

Keep in mind that most studies use highly concentrated curcumin supplements in doses ranging from 500–2,000 mg per day, which is much more curcumin than most people typically consume when using turmeric as a spice. This is because turmeric is only made up of around 3–6% curcumin (27Trusted Source).

Therefore, while adding turmeric to your food may be beneficial, you may need to use a curcumin supplement under a doctor’s guidance to obtain the results reported in these studies.

SUMMARY

Turmeric and its active compound curcumin have strong anti-inflammatory and antioxidant benefits, which help the brain. In research, it has reduced symptoms of depression and Alzheimer’s disease.