Can Eggs Make You Smarter?

Our Most Popular Tips »
Like your poached egg and whole-wheat toast in the morning? Your brain might enjoy it, too.

Eating selenium-rich foods -- like eggs -- could help keep your memory sharp and your brain speed on high as you age.

Your Brain on Selenium
In rural China, researchers found that elderly people who got at least the U.S. recommended daily value of selenium (about 55 micrograms per day) had cognitive test scores that put them in a league with people 10 years younger. Test your mental acuity with this quiz and see how you match up for your age.

Super Sources
You can get your daily dose of selenium by eating whole-wheat bread (10 micrograms per slice), eggs (14 micrograms per egg), tuna (63 micrograms per 3-ounces), Brazil nuts (270 micrograms per half ounce), and many other foods. In other words, you don't have to go overboard with eggs -- and probably shouldn't -- to get your fill.

Will These Foods Make You Smarter?

The trend to fortify foods with the omega-3 DHA.

One of the reasons nutrition experts recommend eating fish twice a week is that they are a good source of docosahexaenoic acid (DHA), an omega-3 fat that has heart-healthy benefits. Now preliminary studies suggest that DHA may help boost brain power too. It makes sense: DHA comprises much of the cell membranes in our brains. And food producers are taking the concept and running with it—they’re adding DHA to foods like yogurt, soy milk and eggs, then marketing them with "smart" slogans. But do these products really maximize mental performance?

Supporting evidence: Some research links higher intakes of DHA with reduced risk of Alzheimer’s disease and the cognitive decline that precedes it. In a 2003 study in the Archives of Neurology, people aged 65-plus who ate at least one (DHA-rich) fish meal per week had a 60 percent reduced risk for Alzheimer’s. And growing evidence suggests DHA supplementation during pregnancy and early infancy may result in superior cognitive performance of the child. This past June, a randomized clinical trial in the American Journal of Clinical Nutrition revealed that nine-month-old babies of mothers who’d eaten DHA-fortified cereal bars (about 200 mg of DHA daily) during the last trimester of their pregnancies demonstrated better problem-solving skills than those whose mothers consumed "placebo" cereal bars.

Cons: Currently, there is no research to show that eating DHA-rich foods improves mental function in healthy adults. "It remains to be seen whether initiating DHA later in life has an important effect on the brain," says Joseph Quinn, M.D., associate professor of neurology at Oregon Health & Science University.

Our verdict: Eating inherently healthful foods like yogurt that have been fortified with DHA, along with foods like salmon and tuna, is a good way to increase intake of DHA, says Elizabeth Somer, R.D., author of Food & Mood (Henry Holt & Co.). And research does indicate that boosting DHA intake to about 200 mg per day—about three times what the average American gets now—may have some mental benefits. That said, don’t expect these fortified foods to help you land a spot on Jeopardy!

Almonds

Almonds: Give Me Some Skin

If you're a health nut, munch on almonds with the skin they're in.

The skins give almonds extra heart-protection powers, especially if you take some vitamin E or vitamin C to boot. So what's in the skin?

Almond Attributes

Almonds abound with heart-healthy goodies, including vitamin E, monounsaturated fats, polyunsaturated fats, arginine, potassium, and fiber. The skins add even more nutrition: They're bursting with flavonoids that help protect cells from oxidation and inflammation. Look up the nutrition information of more foods here.

Synergistic Effects
In a lab study, almond-skin flavonoids helped prevent LDL cholesterol (what's that?) from oxidizing -- and that's a very good thing, because when LDL oxidizes, it can lead to heart attack. Adding vitamins E and C enhanced the effect by working synergistically with the almond-skin flavonoids.

_________________________________________________________________________

What Are Almonds Good For?

By Charles Browne

The almond, which we think of as a nut, is actually the seed of the fruit from the almond tree. The almond is related to the peach, but the fruit toughens into a leathery coat, called the hull, which contains the shell and the edible kernel. Unlike the peach pit, the almond kernel is not only edible, but also quite nutritious.Almonds are high in health-promoting monounsaturated fats. These fats are beneficial for healthy hair, skin, and nails.

But don't be too concerned about almond consumption leading to a high-fat diet; it is believed that not all of the fat in almonds is absorbed. A study, from King's College in London, showed that the cell walls of almonds may influence the body's absorption of the fat in almonds. When eating almonds, chewing appears to break down only some of the cell walls, leaving some of the almond intact, so that not all of the fat was released for digestion. Almonds are also low in calorie density, which means you get a larger portion size with a fewer number of calories (eat more, gain less). But don't go overboard; anything eaten in excess can lead to health problems. The most widely recommended intake of almonds is one ounce per day.

Almonds are a good source of manganese, magnesium, copper, tryptophan, phosphorus, vitamins E and B2. They are also loaded with other vitamins, minerals, and fibre. Furthermore, like all nuts, almonds provide one of the best plant sources of protein. Almonds have been used to treat iron deficiency, menopause, pain and for cancer prevention. The beneficial fats and fibre in almonds are believed to help prevent heart disease. One study showed almonds to be almost twice as effective at lowering cholesterol levels than oatmeal.With all the health benefits, as well as great taste of almonds, it's no wonder that producers turn out over two million tonnes yearly.

Fishing for the Right Words - More on Fish

Words may not trip as lightly off the tongue as we get older, but we can do something about it: Eat salmon. And tuna. And herring. And lake trout. Sounds like a fish tale, but it's true. Here's how eating fish helps give you a silver tongue.

Thank Fat for a Nimble MindMiddle-aged and older adults who have higher blood levels of certain fatty acids -- those found in fatty fish like salmon and tuna -- fare better on verbal fluency tasks compared with their peers who are deficient in fatty acids. It seems to be particularly true for people with artery troubles like hypertension or high levels of unhealthy blood fats. Researchers suspect that people in this group suffer from greater oxidative stress -- which can wreak havoc on memory and other cognitive functions.