Wasabi Linked To 'Substantial' Boost In Memory, Japanese Study Finds 78
Researchers at Tohoku University in Japan found that wasabi improves both short- and long-term memory. CBS News reports: Rui Nouchi, the study's lead researcher and an associate professor at the school's Institute of Development, Aging and Cancer, told CBS News the results, while based on a limited sample of subjects without preexisting health conditions, exceeded their expectations. "We knew from earlier animal studies that wasabi conferred health benefits," he said in an interview from his office in northeast Japan. "But what really surprised us was the dramatic change. The improvement was really substantial."
The main active component of Japanese wasabi is a biochemical called 6-MSITC, a known antioxidant and anti-inflammatory known to exist in only trace amounts elsewhere throughout the plant kingdom, Nouchi said. The double-blind, randomized study involved 72 healthy subjects, aged 60 to 80. Half of them took 100 milligrams of wasabi extract at bedtime, with the rest receiving a placebo. After three months, the treated group registered "significant" boosts in two aspects of cognition, working (short-term) memory, and the longer-lasting episodic memory, based on standardized assessments for language skills, concentration and ability to carry out simple tasks. No improvement was seen in other areas of cognition, such as inhibitory control (the ability to stay focused), executive function or processing speed.
Subjects who received the wasabi treatment saw their episodic memory scores jump an average of 18%, Nouchi said, and scored on average 14% higher than the placebo group overall. The researchers theorized that 6-MSITC reduces inflammation and oxidant levels in the hippocampus, the area of the brain responsible for memory function, and boosts neural plasticity. Compared with the control group, the study said, subjects dosed with wasabi "showed improved verbal episodic memory performance as well as better performance in associating faces and names, which is often the major memory-related problem in older adults." But here's the rub: most of the "wasabi" you order at sushi restaurants is made of ordinary white horseradish, dyed green. "Genuine wasabi must be consumed fresh, with the stubbly rhizome, or stem of the plant, grated tableside just before eating," notes the report. "On the plus side, just a small dab offers the same benefits as the capsule supplements used in the Tohoku study, or 0.8 milligrams of 6-MSITC."
The study has been published in the journal Nutrients.
The main active component of Japanese wasabi is a biochemical called 6-MSITC, a known antioxidant and anti-inflammatory known to exist in only trace amounts elsewhere throughout the plant kingdom, Nouchi said. The double-blind, randomized study involved 72 healthy subjects, aged 60 to 80. Half of them took 100 milligrams of wasabi extract at bedtime, with the rest receiving a placebo. After three months, the treated group registered "significant" boosts in two aspects of cognition, working (short-term) memory, and the longer-lasting episodic memory, based on standardized assessments for language skills, concentration and ability to carry out simple tasks. No improvement was seen in other areas of cognition, such as inhibitory control (the ability to stay focused), executive function or processing speed.
Subjects who received the wasabi treatment saw their episodic memory scores jump an average of 18%, Nouchi said, and scored on average 14% higher than the placebo group overall. The researchers theorized that 6-MSITC reduces inflammation and oxidant levels in the hippocampus, the area of the brain responsible for memory function, and boosts neural plasticity. Compared with the control group, the study said, subjects dosed with wasabi "showed improved verbal episodic memory performance as well as better performance in associating faces and names, which is often the major memory-related problem in older adults." But here's the rub: most of the "wasabi" you order at sushi restaurants is made of ordinary white horseradish, dyed green. "Genuine wasabi must be consumed fresh, with the stubbly rhizome, or stem of the plant, grated tableside just before eating," notes the report. "On the plus side, just a small dab offers the same benefits as the capsule supplements used in the Tohoku study, or 0.8 milligrams of 6-MSITC."
The study has been published in the journal Nutrients.
You remember it if you bite into one. (Score:5, Funny)
Everyone that has bitten into a piece of real wasabi will remember it for the rest of his life.
Same for the horse-radish paste that people think is wasabi.
Re:You remember it if you bite into one. (Score:4, Informative)
Sounds like you've never had real wasabi. It is comparatively mild.
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Sounds like you've never had real wasabi. It is comparatively mild.
That was my experience with genuine freshly grated wasabi: mild by comparison with the usual green dyed horseradish powder.
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Sounds like you've never had real wasabi. It is comparatively mild.
That was my experience with genuine freshly grated wasabi: mild by comparison with the usual green dyed horseradish powder.
I had it a few time in Japan. It was nicer. Nicer than the usual stuff, but I wouldn't get on a plane just for that.
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Re:You remember it if you bite into one. (Score:4, Interesting)
Probably will taste like the fake stuff everyone else uses.
Real wasabi is hard to grow and it expires rather quickly - that's why it's got to be used fresh - pretty much within a half hour of harvesting.
I mean, given how much sushi is eaten, it is a really big wonder why "the real stuff" isn't brought in - there are plenty of people who would kill to be able to have real wasabi with their sushi.
If it was possible to actually bottle and preserve it so it can be imported, you know the Japanese would've figured out a way to do it. But since it's basically impossible to get real wasabi outside of Japan (or even in Japan), and the modern wonders of preservation technology can't seem to make it available worldwide, it pretty much means it really cannot last.
I mean, there are other things that do not last - bananas only have a 14 day shelf life, and 7 of those days are used bringing it from the fields to the store. Those who enjoy durians outside of South East Asia know fresh durians have to be air-flown direct overnight to North America (and even then they lose something).
I don't think it's possible to export wasabi at all or some smart Japanese scientist would've already done it. It's got to be freshly grated before it loses too much of its essence.
It's likely why we have to use the fake stuff - the real stuff just cannot be exported and well, the stuff you can find and bring back likely is mostly fake stuff as well. I'm sure demand for the real stuff is high enough that people will splurge out for it if they could.
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Re:You remember it if you bite into one. (Score:4, Informative)
Wasabi (And I'm talking the real stuff, made in front of you) can be blinding hot, but its a different sort of heat to the peppers, very upfront but with little lasting burn (like the peppers have) and it seems to depend on the person how that heat is percieved. For me, its pretty mild, but I've had friends go bright red in pain, and curiously it doesnt seem to depend on how sensitive one is to regular peppers.
Oh and for reference, you know those big bottles of Kikkoman Wasabi you see at the supermarkets in some places? Those are actually the real deal.
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I was really hoping the benefits would have been in the horseradish fake wasabi too....
I eat a ton of that stuff while dining out.
I'll keep an eye out for the Kikkoman stuff you mentioned tho....and give it a try!!
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Oh I didnt say it was *good* wasabi. Just that its real wasabi. Its a little too processed for my preference.But it legit has real wasabi rather than being horseradish or mustard based.
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Try biting into horse radish, that you may remember, if you're weak. Wasabi is nothing to write home about. It is just so good with sushi.
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6-MSITC (Score:4, Informative)
It doesn't look particularly complicated. I'm sure they'll synthesize it for herbal supplements.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/... [wikipedia.org]
Cool (Score:2)
That's vaguely interesting.
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table side (Score:5, Funny)
"Genuine wasabi must be consumed fresh, with the stubbly rhizome, or stem of the plant, grated tableside just before eating..."
That's right, TABLESIDE. It can't be grated in the kitchen and transported more than a meter, and you cannot consume it at a bar.
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Well, I have had some high-end sushi and I never got that table-side grating. According to Wikipedia, Wasabi can be dried as a powder and it can be made into a paste and then keeps for a while. Incidentally, European food laws prohibit listing "Wasabi" as ingredient if there is none in there.
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Incidentally, European food laws prohibit listing "Wasabi" as ingredient if there is none in there.
You don't need much wasabi in there. All the "wasabi" I've ever had in Europe has pretty much sucked.
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It's the name of a plant, not a growing region. It's pretty easy to grow all over. Not very common but very possible.
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According to Wikipedia it is very sensitive to the growing conditions. You certainly could set up a wasabi farm, but it's going to be expensive to keep, and since Wasabi is not a traditional product, European customers wouldn't want to pay for the extra. hence it's not grown anywhere else than Japan/Taiwan (in amounts that would make it end up in sushi bars).
Re:table side (Score:4, Interesting)
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Awesome, thanks for the link.
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The paste that comes with sushi labelled "Wasabi" (and isn't real wasabi) still lists Wasabi as ingredient at 1% in amount. This is how they still can label it as Wasabi.
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That's why those "Wasabi nuts" all contain 0.0000000000001% Wasabi.
Homeopaths will like it. Everyone else feels like someone is trying to humor a law.
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The table side grating is just a guarantee of authenticity so it can be known for certain it's not the very common cheap imitation stuff.
Sure you can taste the difference but the visual guarantee for something like that is nice to have since it's typically being eaten with other food.
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Also a guarantee of freshness as well so one knows it hasn't been sitting in the back for several hours.
"Ah, Japanese guacamole!" (Score:5, Funny)
I spent the last few years building up an immunity to wasabi. Now I can dip a tortilla chip into it and eat it without breaking a sweat, and remark on how tasty Japanese guacamole is. The person behind me at the buffet may not be so well prepared, however...
Re:"Ah, Japanese guacamole!" (Score:5, Funny)
I spent the last few years building up an immunity to wasabi. Now I can dip a tortilla chip into it and eat it without breaking a sweat, and remark on how tasty Japanese guacamole is. The person behind me at the buffet may not be so well prepared, however...
So both dips were wasabi?!
Inconceivable!
In other news... (Score:5, Funny)
Saké Linked To 'Substantial' Decrease In Memory, Japanese Study Finds
Re:In other news... (Score:4)
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From what I've been able gather on human memory, neurons are "regional" (maybe even in a literal sense) so that kinda checks out for memories written inebriated.
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Oh for fuck's sake, here I was, drinking to forget, and all it accomplished is that now I remember.
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There were kids at my school (who usually flunked out) who would take their tests stoned "because I studied stoned".
Most are serving fries with that today. I suggest that may not be the best life plan.
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In other other news, "Wasaké" linked to 'No' increase or decrease in memory, Japanese study finds.
I hought (Score:2)
Re:Prob not the horseradish with food coloring (Score:5, Informative)
> It's probably not eating as many calories and instead having a traditional Japanese diet,
"The double-blind, randomized study involved 72 healthy subjects, aged 60 to 80. Half of them took 100 milligrams of wasabi extract at bedtime, with the rest receiving a placebo."
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Dude. This is slashdot. He's not expected to read the summary before posting his opinion.
pity 'bout the statistical methods (Score:1)
Regression to the mean is a bitch. Change scores are usually the wrong choice. https://academic.oup.com/ije/article/51/5/1604/6294759?login=false
Ths falls squarely into the catagory (Score:2)
Double Blind (Score:3, Interesting)
Participants and testers did not know the study hypothesis. Researchers, participants, and testers did not know whether they took the 6-MSITC supplement or the placebo supplement.
Yeah... I'm sure participants didn't know if they took the wasabi or a placebo...
More seriously, it was a capsule with a specific wasabi compound [wikipedia.org], so it looks like a legit double blind with a decent sample size (72 ppl). My only issue is an effect size that large seems implausible.
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Good method but sample size is pretty small. 72 will have huge error bars so even if the general concept is true, the level of effect in either direction is going to be highly variable.
Also, lots of medications vary greatly in effect based on both race and gender making 72 an even smaller number for determinative purposes.
I see this as a good initial study sufficient to get funding for a much larger study to continue their work.
Too much sushi will get you a mercury poisoning (Score:2)
so don't go wild on the sushi to increase your daily dose of wasabi.
Every Japanese knows this.
https://people.com/celebrity/j... [people.com]
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Considering the price of sushi, I'm fairly sure that's a problem 99% of the people will easily avoid.
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Really?
There's a place near me, hand made to order, all you can eat $23 per person at dinner, and it is a bit cheaper at lunch.
Hell, when I go there most of my bill is spent on sake....often as much or more than the meal itself.
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23 Dollar Sushi is kinda cheap... gotta wonder about the quality.
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Oh, of course it isn't going to be grade 1A primo....but it is good tasting.
I'm in New Orleans, so, while I dunno where they source all their fish from, if they get any locally, it would be cheaper and quite fresh...LOTs of good tuna comes out of the gulf daily.
They have great turnover, always crowded...only once have I ever gotten anything that seemed to taste a bit off...
But yeah....me and some of my friends have gone in hungry, and like
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Mercury exposure depends on the seafood type. For example, fresh salmon has 0.022 parts per million (PPM) while swordfish has 0.995 PPM. And of course not all sushi has seafood. I stopped eating sushi altogether because of concerns about bacterial contamination, but one of my favorites was cucumber.
If anyone is interested in checking out mercury levels, here's a chart from the FDA:
https://www.fda.gov/food/envir... [fda.gov]
14% (Score:2)
14% improvement over placebo in psychological studies is usually BS given how hard it is to measure something like memory. If you examine such studies you'll usually find something that gives away the reason for the bias -- and it's usually NOT the tablet.
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The Wasabi was delivered inside a capsule that just happened to contain modafinil as well. /s
At it again... (Score:2)
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Nutrient is not a reputable journal (Score:4, Informative)
Re: Nutrient is not a reputable journal (Score:3)
This is Yet Another Non Story.
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Yup! Right after the dupes stop.
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Good replacement for WD40 (Score:5, Funny)
I hear it's a good replacement for WD40 too. If you thin it down a little, lest you dissolve your screws.
love real wasabi (Score:2)
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horseradish also has the 6-msitc chemical, just less of it
In other news around the globe (Score:2, Funny)
Sauerkraut Linked To 'Substantial' Boost In Spatial Reasoning, German Study Finds
Max Mustermann, the study's lead researcher and an associate professor at the school's Institute of Cognitive Psychology, told CBS News the results, while based on a limited sample of subjects without preexisting health conditions, exceeded their expectations. "We knew from earlier animal studies that sauerkraut conferred health benefits," he said in an interview from his office in southwest Germany. "But what really surprise
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There was a study about the health benefits of sauerkraut a few years ago. It was probably by somebody German. But I think the results were expected ahead of time.
It's true; you always remember... (Score:2)
..not to use too much wasabi.
Wazup (Score:2)
WAAAAZZZZUUUUUUUUUUUUUUU ... bi
https://youtu.be/r04SBkkhQ1I?s... [youtu.be]
me likes (Score:2)
Hey, I like the green horseradish stuff. Too bad it doesn't make me smarter, though.
Good luck finding it (Score:2)
Real wasabi is hard to grow and hard to find. I've gotten it in powdered form from a farm in western NC that also sells the whole roots but they sell out fast.
https://realwasabi.com/ [realwasabi.com]
School (Score:1)
Ironically... (Score:1)