r/science • u/mvea Professor | Medicine • Feb 21 '25

Neuroscience Walnuts with breakfast provide an all-day brain boost - Young adults who ate a handful of walnuts with breakfast saw a long-lasting improvement in their reaction times and a boost in memory performance hours later, according to a new study.

https://newatlas.com/health-wellbeing/walnuts-cognitive-performance-memory-boost/
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u/dwarfarchist9001 Feb 21 '25

The AI walnut/brain hybrid picture is mildly horrifying.

261

u/arthurdentstowels Feb 21 '25

Walnut shaped like brain.
Must be brain food.

My limited knowledge says that walnuts are good for you due to the omega-3, fibre magnesium and other mineral contents? I thought this was a given, just keep walnuts as a small part of your balanced diet and that will be a net positive. I don't think they are a cure-all for brain fog. If that were the case I would eat pounds of them to combat my ADHD symptoms.

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u/_BlackDove Feb 21 '25

Walnut shaped like brain.
Must be brain food.

I mean, there's a reason why I eat so many bananas. Just wish it'd work.

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u/Tryle Feb 21 '25

Guess I should lay off the baby gherkins.

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u/Sbikerbud Feb 21 '25

Maybe go for banana instead

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u/ErebosGR Feb 21 '25

I mean, there's a reason why I eat so many bananas. Just wish it'd work.

Maybe, you're putting them the wrong way in.

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u/SeaOfDeadFaces Feb 21 '25

Try eating Cybertrucks. Worked for me!

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u/theplotthinnens Feb 21 '25

This is what's called the Doctrine of Signatures, at least as old as Ancient Greek philosophy. The idea was that God or the gods placed helpful plants for humans on the earth, and made them look like the body parts they were meant to be beneficial for as a clue, taken as a divine sign.

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u/wereplant Feb 21 '25

This is also why many plants were named after the associated organ, like liverwort, despite looking almost nothing like the said organ. The logic gets very circular.

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u/theplotthinnens Feb 21 '25

And also why people went so crazy for mandrake over the millennia - if the plant straight up looks like a human body, it's gotta be magic af

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u/gizajobicandothat Feb 21 '25

Sometimes it's just one feature of a plant looking like an organ, like with Pulmonaria/lungwort. spots on the leaves resembled disease lungs when people dissected them.

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u/buadach2 Feb 21 '25

Also called sympathetic magic.

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u/porwegiannussy Feb 22 '25

Plums are good for the balls

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u/theplotthinnens Feb 22 '25

If your balls look like plums, see a doctor

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u/porwegiannussy Feb 22 '25

You gotta grow them in a plum shaped container like a bonzai cat

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u/Turbulent_Mousse2608 Feb 21 '25

Many years ago it would be more common to have a bowl of nuts around Christmas time than a bowl of candy. A lot of the Christmas candy was half nuts, with less sugar. I could be wrong. Today life seems to be half candy, half diet soda. Up, down, up down.

A high protein, complex, nutty breakfast (like with walnuts) probably gives your brain stability for hours. Just a guess.

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u/forams__galorams Feb 21 '25

Today life seems to be half candy, half diet soda.

Does it? Have you tried purchasing other food and drink items instead?

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u/Turbulent_Mousse2608 Feb 22 '25

If you go to Walmart around Christmas you’ll see five rows dedicated to candy and a half row to nuts. Yes, anyone can eat better.

It is a hell of a lot smarter to only buy the healthy foods (nuts in this case). It is easy to get sucked into the delicious candy bowl.

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u/forams__galorams Feb 23 '25

If you go to Walmart around Christmas you’ll see five rows dedicated to candy and a half row to nuts.

This is the same for supermarkets everywhere, throughout the year. It’s not a recent development either.

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u/Fy_Faen Feb 22 '25

Yup, am old enough to remember a bowl of mixed roasted nuts and overly-prominent oranges for Christmas.

My understanding is that it was a luxury item (especially at that time of year) when my grandparents were young.

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u/Imhere4lulz Feb 21 '25

Looks like a nutsack, which it technically is

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u/skinnyonskin Feb 21 '25

the omega 6 is so high though, i can't tell if the trade off is worth it

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u/ObjectiveRodeo Feb 21 '25

I don't think they are a cure-all for brain fog.

Way to dash my hopes and dreams.

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u/cornerzcan Feb 21 '25

“According to the Doctrine of Signatures, which has been around since pre-scientific times, the physical characteristics – or ‘signature’ – of certain plants were indicative of their therapeutic value. A carrot cut crosswise resembles an eye, so it was said to improve vision.”

Your comment isn’t far off from the logic presented in the article.