Are pomegranates the next brain food?

The link between diet and dementia has been well-documented, and now researchers at the University of Copenhagen and the U.S. National Institute on Aging have found that eating more pomegranates, strawberries and walnuts could help improve memory among Alzheimer’s patients.

Those foods contain a substance called urolithin A, a compound created by gut bacteria.

A study on mouse models with Alzheimer’s disease shows that urolithin A, which is a naturally occurring substance in pomegranates, can alleviate memory problems and other consequences of dementia.

In patients with neurodegenerative diseases such as Alzheimer’s, the brain has trouble removing weak mitochondria, which builds up and impairs brain function.

Utolithin A has been shown to remove weak mitochondria from the brain, thus restoring cognitive function.

The study findings were published in the journal Alzheimer’s and Dementia.