Magnesium, an element most commonly found in fruits and dark leafy greens, has been tested and may prove to be a good brain enhancer. The element is important for strengthening the immune system. Magnesium is known to lessen a person’s risk for asthma, allergies and heart ailments. A dose of 400 milligrams a day is all that is needed in order to achieve a healthy lifestyle.

In a test conducted by researchers at the Center for Learning and Memory at the Tsinghua University in Beijing, China, a newly-formulated magnesium compound is found to boost the brain of mice used as test subjects. The mice were observed to have better working and long term memory and a greater learning rate. The only obstacle left is whether or not the magnesium compound and extra doses of it is safe for consumption among humans.

Guosong Liu, the director for the Center for Learning and Memory, says that if MgT is proven effective and safe for humans, the public will benefit greatly as this will be beneficial for their health. The new magnesium compound, called magnesium-L-threonate, was tested on animals and showed positive results.

Liu adds that the use of the new compound have led to significant increase in the animals’ spatial and associative memory in both young and old-aged rats. The magnesium-L-threonate was shown to increase the plasticity between synapses and the connections of neurons.

Also, the compound was said to boost the density of synapses in the brain’s hippocampus, the region of the brain that serves as the body’s learning and memory machinery.

The research was published in the January 28 edition of the journal Neuron and was funded by China’s National Institute of Health and the National Basic Research Program of China, among others. With this discovery, Liu says that the problem of age related cognitive illnesses can be significantly slowed or even lowered.