British study shows oxygen perks up mental skills, as do glucose and gingko biloba

THURSDAY, April 12 (HealthScout) -- College students have long known that a late-night candy bar or soft drink can be the perfect pick-me-up for the brain. Now new British research suggests that hits of pure oxygen or doses of the herb gingko biloba might also do the trick.

Scientists at the University of Northumbria tested glucose, oxygen and gingko biloba on groups of college students and found that these types of "fuel" can indeed improve mental acuity, if only for a brief time.

And while the lead researcher, British neuroscientist Andrew Scholey, doesn't recommend that anyone start gobbling glucose or snorting oxygen, he does say there's a "clear link" between what you eat or breathe and how your brain works.

Scholey, who is director of the university's human cognitive neuroscience unit, will have his findings published in The Psychologist, the journal of the British Psychological Society.
　　

From HealthScout