Brain Plugs

Marmite's Controversial Components

The main ingredients in Marmite are yeast extract, vegetable extract and salt augmented with thiamin, folate, riboflavin, niacin, iron and vitamin B12. It's flavored with things like celery extract, although the exact ingredients and the amounts are a carefully guarded and undisclosed recipe.

The glutamic acid in MSG, or monosodium glutamate, is an excitotoxin, which means it overexcites your cells to the point of damage or death. But the glutamic acid found in nutritional yeast binds to and is absorbed by other amino acids or proteins, while what is found in MSG is not. In essence, your body controls the glutamic levels.

While in the U.S. Marmite barely shows up on the radar in terms of nutrition, it's been lab tested and declared better than peanut butter in terms of its ability as a brain booster. Recent studies have determined that the savory substance may increase your brain's neurotransmitters, the function involving messaging.

Marmite May Boost Your Brain's GABA Levels

Of course, it was a study based in the U.K., kicked off when researchers found that a single teaspoon of Marmite, taken daily by study participants, prompted a decrease in neural response to visual stimuli.

Study author Daniel Baker, Ph.D., used data from 26 adults, divided into two groups. One group was directed to eat a teaspoon of Marmite every day for a month, while the others ate the same amount of peanut butter.

Thirty days later, the study subjects underwent electroencephalography to measure brain activity in response to visual stimuli in the form of flickering lights.

Baker said the main reason for the significantly reduced responsiveness to visual stimuli in the participants was most likely the high concentration of vitamin B12 in the Marmite.

B Vitamins: 'Super' Compounds in Marmite

According to the Journal of Clinical Investigation,13 niacin, or vitamin B3, one of the main ingredients in Marmite, helps protect your body against staphylococcus bacteria. The Telegraph reports that in tests, niacin:

Folate, vitamin B6 and vitamin B12 are essential for converting what could become a damaging molecule, called homocysteine, into the amino acid cysteine in a process called the methylation cycle.

Other brain and mental capacities positively influenced by vitamin B3, or niacin, found liberally in Marmite, include attention deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD), anxiety, depression and obsessive-compulsive disorder. And B12 deficiency can trigger different types of psychoses and paranoia. Unfortunately, this deficiency is common.

High Salt Content Leads to Marmite Bans

Denmark, which hasn't sold Marmite since May 2011, isn't the only country to look unfavorably on the savory condiment that a large portion of the known world swears it can't live without. The powers that be in Ceredigion, Wales, banned Marmite in elementary schools in 2008.

Oregon State University jumped on the bandwagon and began warning people not to take high "doses" of the stuff without medical supervision due to its high salt content. However, salt is not the ogre it's been made out to be. In fact, not enough salt in your diet isn't good for your heart. The more important question is whether or not your salt quotient is properly balanced with that of your potassium intake.