Milk the white stuff for brain power

[Posted: Mon 30/01/2012 by Eimear Vize www.irishhealth.com]

Drinking milk every day not only benefits your bones but will also boost your brain.

That's according to a new study, which indicates that drinking a glass of the white stuff every day could improve your memory and help your brain function better.

Researchers pitted adults who drink milk or use milk products regularly against those who seldom or never drink milk in a test of their mental acuity.

More than 900 men and women had their visual-spatial intelligence, and verbal and working memory tested by a research team from the University of Maine, USA. The study participants ranged in age from 23 to 98 years.

Research findings confirmed that dairy lovers were "five times less likely to 'fail' the test' compared to those who didn't drink milk.

The researchers ensured that the test was fair by controlling for any "brain health" factors such as lifestyle and diet issues, although they did find that milk drinkers generally had a healthier diet.

Out of eight different brain agility tests, people who drank one glass of milk daily or more scored better in each experiment. In fact those who drank the greatest amount of milk achieved the highest scores, regardless of age.

"In addition to the many established health benefits of milk from bone health to cardiovascular health, the potential to stave off mental decline may represent a novel benefit with great potential to impact the aging population," according to the researchers.

Although the scientists agree that more research is needed on the brain boosting benefits of milk, they suggested that some of the nutrients in milk may have a direct benefit on brain function and that "easily implemented lifestyle changes that individuals can make present an opportunity to slow or prevent neuropsychological dysfunction."

The study is published in the International Dairy Journal.