By Dr. Mercola
Adding herbs like parsley and thyme to your diet might help boost your brainpower, courtesy of apigenin. Apigenin is a flavonoid found in many herbs, including parsley, thyme, and chamomile, and certain other plants like celery and other vegetables.
When researchers applied apigenin to human stem cells in a petri dish, something remarkable happened – 25 days later, the stem cells had turned into neurons (an effect that didn’t occur without apigenin).1
The synapses, or connections between neurons, were also “strong and more sophisticated,” which is crucial for memory consolidation, learning, and overall brain function.2
The researchers noted that apigenin binds to estrogen receptors, which affect the development, maturation, function, and plasticity of the nervous system. They wrote in the journal Advances in Regenerative Biology:3