After 3 Months of Wasabi, Subjects Saw 'Dramatic Change'

Want to boost your memory? Smear some extra wasabi on your sushi. That's the findings out of Japan's Tohoku University, where a team of scientists have found that indulging in the spicy green condiment can improve both short-term and long-term memory. In the double-blind, randomized study published in the journal Nutrients, researchers tapped into 72 subjects ages 60 to 80 with no preexisting health conditions and split the group into two. For 12 weeks, half received a placebo, while the other half ingested 100 milligrams of wasabi extract in the evening. At the end of the three-month period, those who'd taken the wasabi saw "a significant improvement in working [short term] and episodic [long-term] memory performances," as compared to those who'd taken the placebo, per the study.

Those who'd taken the wasabi experienced an average 18% boost in their episodic memory score, coming in 14% higher than the placebo group, per CBS News. Rui Nouchi, lead author of the study, tells the outlet that wasabi was already known to confer health beneifts, "but what really surprised us was the dramatic change" in subjects' memory. "The improvement was really substantial." Scientists are linking the results to a biochemical called 6-MSITC, an anti-inflammatory and antioxidant that isn't easily found in other plants. Researchers believe that the 6-MSITC reduces the oxidant levels and inflammation in the hippocampus, which is the part of the brain behind memory function.

Nouchi says that other measures often promoted to keep the brain healthy, including exercising and adhering to a Mediterranean diet, can be challenging to keep up consistently; a daily wasabi supplement, however, could prove much easier to maintain. Caveat No. 1 if you're excited about this wasabi news: Most of the wasabi paste found in the US, including at Japanese restaurants, isn't the real deal—it's simply white horseradish dyed green (an expert once told the Washington Post that he estimated 99% of wasabi in North America is fake). The real wasabi plant is famously challenging to grow and harvest, with a two-year maturation period. Caveat No. 2: The study's sample size was on the smaller end. Caveat No. 3: Wasabi manufacturer Kinjirushi Co. was behind the funding for this research, though CBS notes that "the researchers say the company had no role in the study itself." (More discoveries stories.)