EATING less doesn鈥檛 just boost physical health. In elderly people, it seems to improve memory, too.
As well as extending lifespan in mice, restricting calorie intake has been shown to boost cognitive ability in elderly animals.
To see if the cognitive benefit held for people, Agnes Fl枚el and colleagues at the University of M眉nster in Germany tested the short-term memory of 50 people, with an average age of 60. The people were overweight, but not obese, and one-third of them were instructed to eat 30 per cent fewer calories than normal each day.
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After three months, the dieters scored 20 per cent higher on the word-based memory test than they had before dieting, recalling on average 12.5 out of 15 words, compared to 10.5. 鈥淭wo words may not seem like much, but it鈥檚 more than the difference between people under 30 and above 50,鈥� says Fl枚el. Those who did not go on the diet showed no change (Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, ).
The dieters had lower levels of glucose and insulin in their blood, which previous studies have linked to improved brain function.