Strawberries contain ellagic acid, a compound that regulates blood vessels and may boost memory. In a University of Cincinnati study, middle-aged adults who ate one cup daily for six weeks showed significant improvements in memory and executive function compared to placebo.
There's a substance in strawberries called ellagic acid that we know actually can prevent abnormal blood vessels from growing. They're blood vessel tamers. And when you actually have ellagic acid from a strawberry, ellagic acid is what makes strawberries tart. And if you get organic strawberries, they actually have higher levels. And the reason is because the strawberry plant naturally makes ellagic acid as a response to being nibbled on by bugs in the environment. This is Mother Nature's wound healing response. So when you grow naturally, the strawberry is going to have more ellagic acid. Recently, it's been shown by a group at University of Cincinnati Eating just 1 cup of ripe strawberries per day for 6 weeks, actually, in middle-aged people who had mild cognitive deficits, not full-blown end-stage dementia, but mild, it actually improved memory. Strawberries, 1 cup against a placebo. It reduced the depression and frustration of not being able to remember things. And it actually improved the score, the cognitive executive functioning score, all because of the ellagic acid.
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