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Consumption of yeast products has a positive effect on brain function
Last reviewed: 02.07.2025
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British scientists claim that yeast-based products are the best choice for breakfast. They came to this conclusion after experiments in which they tested the yeast paste popular in the UK – “Marmite”. As it was discovered, consumption of such paste significantly stimulated human brain activity.
"Marmite" is a very popular product in the UK and some other countries. This paste is used as a spread for making sandwiches, but due to the presence of yeast and some other ingredients in the product, it has a rather specific taste that not everyone will like.
Experiments conducted by the University of York staff have shown that yeast can significantly improve brain performance by increasing the amount of γ-aminobutyric acid. This acid is known to be a mediator of processes occurring in the central nervous system, and also inhibits the degree of neuronal excitability, stabilizing brain activity.
Before the study, it was believed that a deficiency of γ-aminobutyric acid was associated with the development of anxiety disorders, depressive states, autism, and the occurrence of epileptic seizures. The action of most stimulant drugs is aimed at activating the production of γ-aminobutyric acid.
One of the lead authors of the experiment, Daniel Baker, who is a psychologist and represents the University of York, selected 28 volunteers for the project. All of them were randomly divided into two groups. Participants in the first group consumed 1 teaspoon of Marmite paste daily for 4 weeks, while participants in the second group consumed the same amount of peanut butter.
At the end of the experiment, all participants were gathered and each of them underwent diagnostics using the electroencephalography method – in this way, specialists checked the reaction of brain structures to visual stimuli.
The results of the experiment showed that the volunteers who consumed Marmite had a reaction to irritants that was slowed down by more than thirty percent. This suggests that these people had a higher level of γ-aminobutyric acid. By the way, the effect of the yeast product was still noted for two months after the end of the experiment.
"Yeast contains large amounts of vitamin B12 , which has a positive effect on the production of γ-aminobutyric acid. This discovery gives us huge opportunities - in the field of medicine and in clinical practice," Professor Baker is confident.
The use of yeast in the food industry is a common occurrence, because everyone knows its mass use for the production of alcohol, bakery and confectionery products. But now this product can be introduced into medicine as a medicine. After all, in addition to vitamin B, yeast is rich in other useful substances - tocopherol, mesoinositol, micro- and macroelements. Therefore, yeast will probably soon be used as a therapeutic and prophylactic agent.