Effects of Peanuts on Cognition

Most of the human population has had a peanut before. This staple of worldwide cuisine has been proven to have cardiovascular, digestive, and nutritional benefits. In this systematic review, we aimed to assess the effects of peanuts on cognition. We measured cognition under three domains: Memory, Reaction Time & Processing Speed, and Global Cognitive Function. Five studies met our inclusion and exclusion criteria. Rather than performing a meta-analysis, we did a qualitative analysis. We found that peanuts have a statistically significant positive effect on the memory and global cognitive function domains. However, results for reaction time and processing speed were mixed, with some studies reporting small but non-significant improvements. We concluded that part of the peanut’s effectiveness in increasing cognition is due to biocompounds present in its body. While the studies we selected were quite comprehensive, they had their limitations. Primarily, they had small sample sizes and short intervention times.