Exam season boosts rosemary sales

SALES of rosemary have boomed after research suggested the herb could help pupils revise.

Holland and Barrett, the health food retailer, said it ordered extra stocks of rosemary essential oil after sales more than doubled compared with last year.

It is thought many of the buyers are parents hoping to boost their children’s performance for the exams season, which is just getting under way.

A study by Northumbria University said exposure to the smell of rosemary boosted a child’s memory. Among those aged ten and 11 given different mental tasks, those exposed to the aroma of rosemary performed better than those in a room with no scent. The biggest difference in scores was in the test that asked youngsters to recall words.

Study author Mark Moss suggested at the time his study was published that the aroma of rosemary affected electrical activity in the brain. He added that with poor working memory related to poor academic performance, his findings ‘offer a possible cost-effective and simple intervention to improve academic performance in children’.

A Holland and Barrett spokesman said yesterday that UK and Ireland sales of rosemary oil in the week the study was released were up 187 per cent on last year and it had bought in extra stock for the exam season.

In ancient Greece, students wore garlands of rosemary in exams, and in Hamlet, Ophelia says: ‘There’s rosemary, that’s for remembrance.’