How eating salad can improve the memory

EATING a portion of salad every day improves the memory of older people by as much as 11 years.

A study of nearly 1,000 people, published in the journal Neurolog y, found those who regularly ate just half a cup or the equivalent each day of green leafy vegetables had the memory of people significantly younger.

For 10 years, researchers at Rush University Medical Centre in Chicago analysed 960 people with an average age of 81 who did not have dementia. They asked them how often and how much they ate certain green leafy vegetables: lettuce, spinach, as well as kale and collard greens, all rich in vitamin K. The participants were also given thinking and memory tests annually.

The people in the top category ate the equivalent of 1.3 servings a day, while people in the bottom category ate on average virtually none.

 Swimming can help push back dementia symptoms, according to research by University College London, published in Frontiers of Public Health. It found people with the degenerative disease who improved their physical fitness were better able to plan, organise and remember things.