Go for it! This food improves your memory.

Cheese is among the world's most popular delicacies. Despite its high fat content, one type is said to offer health benefits and positively influence memory.

Many people could eat cheese every day – and for good reason: with its variety of colors, shapes, and flavors, it enhances almost any dish. A team of researchers has now discovered that the popular French Camembert, thanks to its fermentation with white mold, offers yet another benefit: it can boost memory.

Camembert: This is what the cheese is made of

Camembert is a famous, creamy soft cheese made from cow's milk ( NDR ), originally from the Normandy region of France. It is known worldwide for its soft, buttery center and the characteristic white, moldy rind that forms during ripening, enhancing its flavor. The cheese owes its popularity to its mild, buttery taste, often complemented by earthy, mushroomy notes from the moldy rind.

Camembert also provides a good amount of vitamin B12, which plays a key role in energy metabolism, supports the formation of blood cells, and helps build the myelin sheath around nerves. Furthermore, it contains valuable nutrients, including biotin, pantothenic acid, phosphorus, and calcium. According to researchers, the fatty acid amides produced during cheese fermentation also have a positive effect on brain health.

Study: High-fat diet counteracts cognitive decline

The study is based on the rising number of dementia cases and the role of type 2 diabetes as a risk factor for Alzheimer's disease. Camembert, a fermented dairy product, contains bioactive compounds with potentially neuroprotective properties that, according to previous studies, could promote cognitive function.

The scientists identified three fatty acid amides produced during cheese fermentation: myristamide, oleamide, and stearamide. Myristamide proved particularly effective in improving cognitive function in animal studies with mice. Interestingly, the non-fermented form of myristic acid did not show comparable results. This suggests that amidation during fermentation is crucial for the compound's positive cognitive effects.

Overview of study results:

• Studies have shown that Camembert cheese improves memory performance. Mice that received the cheese explored new objects for longer, indicating an improvement in cognitive abilities.
• Myristamide improves memory performance, with the effect being more pronounced at higher doses. Myristic acid showed no positive effects.
• Neuroprotective factors in the hippocampus increase after myristamide administration, thus supporting learning and memory processes.
• Oleamide also shows cognitive improvement, but stearamide has been less studied.
• The amidation of fatty acids in cheese fermentation plays a key role in cognitive improvement.

Study procedure: Behavioral tests with mice

The mice were divided into two groups (Berliner Morgenpost ): one received a high-fat diet, the other received a high-fat diet supplemented with fatty acid amides. Two behavioral tests, the Object Recognition Test (ORT) and the Object Localization Test (OLT), assessed cognitive function. In the ORT, mice explored a new object; in the OLT, the time spent exploring a relocated object was measured. Researchers analyzed fatty acid amides in Camembert cheese and examined neurotrophic factor expression in the hippocampus to understand the neurobiological effects of Camembert.

Camembert as a solution for dementia?

However, this assumption requires further research into the effects in humans, rather than, as in this case, in mice. It is more likely that the fatty acid amides contained in Camembert, particularly myristamide, could offer valuable support for brain health. This is because increasing neuroprotective factors in the hippocampus could help slow down neurodegenerative processes or prevent their development. One possibility would be to integrate the myristamide found in Camembert into daily life in low doses to support brain function: both the cheese itself and dietary supplements could be helpful in this regard.

The researchers emphasize that their findings provide evidence for the importance of diet for brain health, but do not prove that consuming large amounts of Camembert prevents cognitive decline. It remains unclear whether myristamide acts directly on the brain or, alternatively, via receptors in the gut. Further long-term studies could show whether the cognitive effects are sustained and whether neurodegenerative processes can be inhibited in the long term.

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