Study: eating cinnamon can help boost learning abilities

There are many people who, no matter how hard they try, can't seem to improve their learning abilities.

A team of scientists from Rush University Medical Center believes it has found a solution to that frustrating problem – cinnamon.

In testing performed on mice, the household spice yielded very promising results.

After the learning levels of a number of rodents were established, each of the subjects was fed cinnamon for a month.

According to a press release issued by the university, "The researchers found that after eating...cinnamon, the poor learning mice had improved memory and learning at a level found in good learning mice."

The release further notes, "Researchers have found that the hippocampus of poor learners has less CREB (a protein involved in memory and learning) and more alpha5 subunit of GABAA receptor or GABRA5 (a protein that generates tonic inhibitory conductance in the brain) than good learners. The mice in the study received oral feedings of ground cinnamon, which their bodies metabolized into sodium benzoate, a chemical used as a drug treatment for brain damage. When the sodium benzoate entered the mice's brains, it increased CREB, decreased GABRA5. These changes in turn led to improved memory and learning among the mice."

In the future, the team would like to test the impact of cinnamon on students who find learning particularly challenging.

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