Peanuts Power Your Brain
Peanuts get a lot of bad press. Here’s some really good press. Eating peanuts improves your memory, and now we might know why.
A new single-blind, controlled study has shown that eating 60g a day of unsalted, roasted peanuts with the skin for 8 weeks significantly improved verbal memory in healthy adults whose average age was 67 years. And the improvement was significant: delayed recall improved by 5.8%.
This is not the first time peanuts have been shown to improve memory. A previous study of young, healthy people found that eating peanuts with the skin improves memory. Specifically, it showed that peanuts improve immediate memory. Eating peanuts also significantly improved depression and anxiety (Clin Nutr. 2021 Nov;40(11):5556-5567).
But, for the first time, the new study may tell us how peanuts improve memory.
The study found that eating peanuts increased global cerebral blood flow by 3.6% compared to people who did not eat peanuts. The increased blood flow to the gray matter, which is associated with thinking and memory, was 4.5% higher.
As we age, vascular function in the brain declines. That increases the risk of cognitive decline and dementia. Peanuts reverse the effects of aging, improving blood flow to the brain. They may be able to do this because of their high concentration of L-arginine, which is crucial for vascular function and blood flow.
For those of us who are used to seeing percentages as a mark on a test, a 3.6% improvement might not seem like a lot. But, when it comes to blood flow, it’s a lot. Global cerebral blood flow decreases by 0.37% per year as we age. So, a 3.6% improvement is important.
Clin Nutr. 2025 Nov 1:55:170-179.
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