Wasabi linked to "substantial" boost in memory, Japanese study finds

https://www.cbsnews.com/news/wasabi-memory-boost-japanese-study-finds/

by elorant • 3 years ago

56 55 3 years ago

petesoper3• 3 years ago

The paper: https://www.mdpi.com/2072-6643/15/21/4608

cxcorp2• 3 years ago

A wasabi company, Kinjirushi Co., provided funding, though the researchers say the company had no role in the study itself.

I'm sure.

astrange4• 3 years ago

This is obnoxious. You cannot disprove a scientific study by pointing at who funded it, and a properly constructed one won't be able to hide bad results since it'd be preregistered.

glimshe• 3 years ago

He doesn't have the burden of disproving it, the study has the burden of proving its claims. I consider studies funded by an interested party as weak evidence at best - perhaps enough to encourage an independent party to conduct another study.

thsksbd2• 3 years ago

No, you cant disprove a study by the source of funding;Truth doesnt care who funds it.

But its also not obnoxious not to be helplessly naive that you don't scrutinize sources using effective heuristics.

kazinator3• 3 years ago

Yes you can. Identification of a conflict-of-interest bias is different from argumentum ad hominem.

perihelions• 3 years ago

Also relevant:

- "In 2018, Buckley and the other nine senior members of the editorial board resigned, claiming that MDPI "pressured them to accept manuscripts of mediocre quality and importance."

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nutrients_(journal)

https://www.science.org/content/article/open-access-editors-...

(This is the journal that accepted the OP study).

TapWaterBandit• 3 years ago

Even before reading this I definitely got vibes of "Wine makers find drinking red wine has benefits" or "Starbucks finds that coffee is the ultimate health drink" etc.

connicpu• 3 years ago

"1-2 glasses of wine a few days a week associated with better health outcomes" was true, but it leaves out "1-2 glasses of wine a few days a week associated with wealth". There's some correlations there, but neither statement is pointing the finger at the causation.

wnevets• 3 years ago

Some how I was able to guess this was the case without having any prior knowledge of this study.

kazinator3• 3 years ago

Funding of the study is a role in the study itself, since it is the study itself that requires the actual money.

keyle• 3 years ago

It's true, you never forget that time you put too much wasabi on... /s

7e• 3 years ago

If you eat something really pungent, your brain should indeed have mechanisms to prevent you from eating it again. It could be poisonous.

eikenberry• 3 years ago

Is this only wasabi or does it cover the horseradish based green stuff we get in the US?

MPSimmons• 3 years ago

Horseradish only contains trace amounts :-(

willk• 3 years ago

Don’t confuse the wasabi that we get in the States for actual wasabi. Nicer restaurants will have it, but you’ll probably have to ask for it.

cxcorp2• 3 years ago

The article mentions that it's "usually white horseradish, dyed green", and that the real thing "can cost more per pound than even the choice tuna it sits on."

Would be interesting to verifiably taste real wasabi. Who knows, maybe I've never actually even tasted the real thing?

appplication• 3 years ago

I’ve found real wasabi to actually be a bit milder than some of the horseradish imitators. I suppose I always assumed it’d be even stronger, but that hasn’t been the case in my experience.

dfxm12• 3 years ago

If you don't see the sushi chef grinding a little green root fresh on a wasabi grinder and adding a little bit to your rice, it's safe to assume it's not Japanese wasabi.

tayo42• 3 years ago

If you have a Japanese food market near you they might have it. Some specialty grocers can carry it too. If you happen to be in the bay area iirc there's a Wasabi farm in half moon bay.

ChrisMarshallNY• 3 years ago

I've had it, in Tokyo.

They give you a root, and a grater. Tastes milder than what we get, here.

I have heard that it is impossible to domesticate (has to be harvested wild, on certain mountains). However, I watched a program, where a guy in Hawai'i said he'd figured out how to domesticate it.

Haven't heard much about that, though.

petesoper3• 3 years ago

Real wasabi powder runs vaguely $5 an ounce. Wasabi is a different species than horseradish. The taste is quite different.

LargoLasskhyfv• 3 years ago

Bought a small tube of that a few days ago. Contains 0.7% Wasabi :-)

glandium• 3 years ago

It's the same in Japan, actually.

kadoban• 3 years ago

Even in Japan almost nowhere has real wasabi.

jandrewrogers2• 3 years ago

You usually don't get real wasabi in Japan either. Probably too difficult to grow at sufficient scale to meet demand.

cykros• 3 years ago

Even then, it's often not fresh. Real wasabi should be generally consumed within 30 minutes of being ground/grated, before it loses its flavor.

You can absolutely buy some wasabi powder that is made with up to 50% real wasabi on Amazon fairly cheaply, but what you're tasting is still going to be the horseradish. They're basically just selling you the discarded remains of wasabi that isn't actually any good anymore. Still safe to consume, but stale, essentially.

smegsicle• 3 years ago

via a chemical apparently not in regular horseradish aka western wasabi aka most wasabi

neom• 3 years ago

Last time this was discussed: https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=38132218

AlbertCory2• 3 years ago

Left unexamined is: what other substances are linked to boosts in memory?

You'd assume that, of the 1000's of substances we eat, by randomness about half have a positive or no effect, and the other half have a negative effect. How about ketchup? Jalapeños? Oyster sauce? Curry powder? Probably some foods have an even larger positive effect.

I'd imagine no one's tested those.

molticrystal• 3 years ago

Eating would probably cause a lot of bias thus destroying the randomness. Starting with our taste buds which causes avoidance, the digestion system that will break things down so many substances will end up similar despite their differences before hand, and the blood brain barrier which many things can't get past. Then there is dosage, substances can have wildly different effects or none at all depending on how much you give and how long they are given.

Dosage would probably be among the bigger issues, if oyster sauce contained a substance that got past those barriers just how much would you have to imbibe to get a positive or negative effect, and would the other ingredients at that level start causing side effects, interference, or otherwise mask the substance.

AlbertCory2• 3 years ago

They weren't serving it with food. It was a capsule by itself, at bedtime.

don't fixate on oyster sauce; I just picked something at random. However, the larger point remains: this "study" is garbage. There are probably people who'll start buying "wasabi" and feel all healthy & virtuous, so there's your placebo effect right there.

sinuhe69• 3 years ago

If the effects is true, I don’t think it is necessarily due to any particular substance in the wasabi. If the simple smelling of pleasant fragrances can boost the memory performance by 260% [1], I believe other pungent substances can have a similar effect, too! :D

[1] https://www.universityofcalifornia.edu/news/how-simple-fragr...

purplezooey• 3 years ago

It's true, after I ate some, I felt like I was no longer playing ketchup.

PrimeMcFly• 3 years ago

@dang this is a dupe - I submitted this here: https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=38553735

fakedang• 3 years ago

Eat wasabi blob, enjoy memorable life event. Great success.

Wasabi linked to "substantial" boost in memory, Japanese study finds

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