Does Wasabi Improve Memory?
Why the headlines are probably wrong about the spicy condiment
Wasabi is a fascinating condiment. It’s incredibly hard to grow, with commercial operations outside of Japan largely failing to reproduce the conditions required to harvest it on masse, which makes it not just rare but extremely expensive. And according to new headlines, in addition to the mystique of expense and rarity, wasabi can cause a “really substantial boost” in people’s memory if they take it every day as a supplement.
While this news seems rosy — memory is a tricky problem to solve, and any improvements in our ability to help older people remember things is a major breakthrough — the reality is definitely a bit less useful. The study behind all this hype isn’t great, and the funding situation is somewhat problematic.
Let’s look at the science behind the claims, where I will finally get to use the phrase Big Wasabi unironically.
The Study
The paper in question is a small randomized trial recently published in the MDPI journal Nutrients. This is a pretty low-quality journal, and in general is not a great starting point for the trial. The study itself is neither terrible nor brilliant — it’s quite a boring example of reasonably good scientific practice with some issues but nothing…
