Maintaining a balanced, natural and healthy diet is already a trend among people who want to achieve a higher quality of life.

A limentos para incrementar la inteligencia

Everyday foods such as beetroot, Iberian ham or some types of oily fish are a source of substances that help us to increase the quality of our neural connections .

If in a previous article in Psychology and Mind we offered you a list of 5 tricks to increase your intelligence, today we have elaborated another similar list: five foods that contribute to increase intelligence . Thus, the consumption of junk food has been decreasing in favour of the traditional Mediterranean diet , whose nutritional contribution is clearly superior. The set of foods that make up the Mediterranean diet contribute to improving health levels and provide us with more vitality and energy. The curious thing is that consuming these products can help us to increase intelligence .

The cooking and health blog “Cooking ideas” has drawn up a list of five foods that provide us with essential nutrients such as iodine, omega-3 acid, zinc, monophosphate and choline, which help to increase the quality of neural connections, thus helping the brain to function better overall. If you are already a regular consumer of these foods, congratulations are in order. If, on the other hand, they are not yet part of your daily intake, now is the time to include them in your list!

1. Bluefish

With a good source of omega-3 fatty acid , eating oily fish can help you increase your IQ by up to 3.5 points; a not inconsiderable figure. Salmon, tuna, sardines or eels are some of the bluefish that we consume the most and which should not be missing from any regular diet, especially if our aim is to maintain or increase our intellectual capacities and the performance of our brain.

2. Iodized salt

A recent study by the National Economic Research Agency in the United States concluded that the introduction of iodized salt in the United States in 1923 led to a progressive improvement in the IQ of citizens, which rose to an average of 3.5 points. In another region of the world, namely Pakistan, a state food plan called “The Micronutrient Initative” managed to increase the average intelligence of citizens by more than 12 points on average , just by the effect of introducing iodine in salt. In fact, the same study found that the absence of iodine in the diet of pregnant women alters the cognitive development of the foetus, preventing it from reaching optimum levels of neuronal quality.

3. The eggs

The choline (a nutrient that is usually grouped with the B vitamins) is present in the farm eggs that we consume in different ways. It has the ability to strengthen the interneuronal nerve connections, which are responsible for activating the transmission of emotions, memories or ideas. A study by the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) states that its routine consumption during a period of thirty days is capable of producing a notable increase in our cognitive capacities.

4. The Iberian ham

This is one of the most select foods in the Mediterranean diet and one of the most popular, contains zinc , a mineral that, among other functions, helps us to increase the quality of neural connections, thus increasing mental speed. However, the concentration of zinc in ham is moderate, and it will be necessary to consume other foods (lamb, oyster or wheat germ) to obtain the daily dose recommended by nutritionists. In any case, let these lines serve to encourage the consumption of a good slice of ham, since it is a food as rich for the brain as for the palate .

5. Beet

This vegetable contains uridine monophosphate , which, like choline, iodine and omega-3 fatty acid, helps nerve cells to interact more and better with each other, promoting the quality of our cognitive abilities. Another research of MIT also revealed that the mice that consumed this vegetable daily experienced biochemical changes in the neuronal synapses, which caused an increase in their intelligence.

Extra: Chia seeds

A food used by the Mayans and the Aztecs. And no wonder, since its properties are extraordinary and go beyond improving our cognitive functions.

You can discover it by reading this article: “10 benefits of chia seeds for your body and mind”