By Editor
A simple dietary habit could hold promising benefits for the ageing brain, as new research has found that eating peanuts daily may improve insulin responsiveness in brain regions responsible for memory and other cognitive functions.
The study, conducted by researchers at Maastricht University Medical Centre in the Netherlands, found that older adults who consumed 60 grams of unsalted, skin-roasted peanuts daily for 16 weeks experienced improved insulin responsiveness in several memory-related areas of the brain.
Published in the peer-reviewed journal Food & Function, the findings have added to growing scientific evidence that nutrition may play an important role in maintaining brain health as people grow older.
The discovery is particularly significant because insulin, a hormone commonly associated with blood sugar regulation, also plays an important role in brain function, supporting communication between nerve cells and helping maintain memory.
Researchers have increasingly linked reduced brain insulin responsiveness with age-related cognitive decline. 
Speaking on the findings, the study’s senior author, Dr Peter Joris, an associate professor at Maastricht University Medical Center, said the research demonstrated a beneficial effect of daily peanut consumption on insulin responsiveness in brain regions associated with memory. The study involved 31 healthy adults aged between 60 and 75 who participated in a randomised, controlled crossover trial.
Participants consumed approximately two servings of peanuts daily during a 16-week intervention period, after which they switched to a control phase in which peanuts were excluded from their diets.
Using advanced MRI technology, the researchers observed improved insulin responsiveness in parts of the hippocampus, lingual gyrus, parahippocampal gyrus and posterior cingulate gyrus, brain regions involved in memory and other cognitive processes.
The latest discovery builds on earlier research by the same team, published in 2025 in Clinical Nutrition, which found that daily peanut consumption increased cerebral blood flow by 3.6 per cent and improved verbal memory performance by 5.8 per cent.
The researchers believe that the combination of healthy unsaturated fats, fibre, vitamins, minerals and other bioactive compounds in peanuts may explain their potential benefits.
Peanuts also contain L-arginine, an amino acid involved in producing nitric oxide, which helps regulate blood vessel function and may support processes associated with learning and memory.
However, researchers caution that the findings should not be interpreted as evidence that eating peanuts can prevent Alzheimer’s disease or reverse dementia.
The study was relatively small, involving only 31 participants, and further research is required to determine whether the observed improvements lead to lasting cognitive benefits.
Nevertheless, the findings reinforce the importance of healthy dietary choices in supporting wellbeing during old age.
For millions of older adults and their families, the research offers another reason to pay attention to nutrition as part of a broader approach to healthy ageing.
