Perhaps it’s not AI we need to worry about, but beavers.
Chewing on harder foods, like wood, may help improve memory and brain health, according to a new study. Researchers found that chewing wood significantly increased glutathione, a brain antioxidant that protects against damage and supports brain function. In the study, participants who chewed wood had higher levels of glutathione in the brain, which was linked to better memory performance. However, chewing gum didn’t have the same effect. The study suggests that chewing moderately hard materials could be a simple way to boost brain antioxidant levels and cognitive function.
A total of 52 university students were recruited, and the Korean version of the Repeatable Battery for the Assessment of Neuropsychological Status was used for the neurocognitive evaluations. Brain GSH levels following chewing gum or wood blocks were measured using MEscher-GArwood Point RESolved Spectroscopy (MEGA-PRESS) sequence, and their relevance to neurocognitive evaluation results was investigated.