Fish Tank Plant Good For Memory

[mrmoshe]

Fish tank plant good for memory

A PLANT used to decorate fish tanks can also improve memory in elderly people, an Australian study shows.

A dietary test has found the ancient Indian herb Brahmi helps healthy older people recall details, like items on shopping lists, with more ease.

Researchers at Southern Cross University now plan to test the Ayurvedic medicine on people who have dementia.

Brahmi, also known as Bacopa monnieri, is a bog plant used worldwide as both an aquarium decoration and an alternative therapy to improve memory.

It it one of several natural therapies, like the Chinese herb Ginkgo biloba and the essential fatty acids Omega-3, that are believed to boost memory recall.

However, few studies have ever put Brahmi's effectiveness to the test.

Study leader Annette Morgan enlisted more than 80 people aged over 55, putting half on a daily dose of Brahmi capsules and the rest on a dummy substance.

Memory tests during the three-month trial proved the medicine had a "modest but definite" benefit, Ms Morgan said.

"That means the people who took it could recall details of things like shopping lists with more accuracy than people who didn't," she said.

"The benefits were only mild but they were definitely there."

Scientists believe Brahmi works either as an antioxidant or by directly affecting a neurotransmitter called acetylcholine, which plays a critical role in memory.

But they warn that more tests are needed to solidly validate the benefits and weigh them against the medicine's side-effects, like nausea and stomach cramps.

They also hope to test the medicine on people with serious memory loss or early stage dementia.

"If it works in this area it could become a very useful non-drug therapy," Ms Morgan said.

Edited June 14, 2007 by MallacootaPete