A natural chemical (flavonoid) found in strawberries has recently been shown to boost long-term memory formation in mice.

The chemical is called Fisetin, and works by boosting a process called long-term potentiation, or LTP. LTP is felt to be very important in helping the brain convert a short term memory into a long term one.Interestingly, fisetin has also been found to protect brain cells from damage and degeneration.

“The good news is that fisetin is readily available in strawberries but the bad news is that because of its natural product status there may be little financial interest in getting it into human clinical trials for diseases associated with memory loss such as Alzheimer’s, where the treatment options are currently very limited,” says Pamela Maher of the Salk Institute for Biological Studies.

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