Sex and chocolate seen boosting brain power

By Paul Majendie

LONDON (Reuters) - Enjoy dark chocolate, have plenty of sex, eat cold meats and fish for breakfast and you could boost your brain power, say the authors of a new book.

Cognitive psychologist Terry Horne and biochemist Simon Wootton -- who co-authored "Teach Yourself: Training Your Brain" -- argue that lifestyle choices are crucial for keeping you in tip-top mental condition.

"Lifestyle can boost your brain power," Horne said. "What your lifestyle does is help to create the chemical conditions in your brain."

Horne told Reuters in an interview to mark the book's publication that the brain is more like a chemical factory than a computer.

"You can create the optimum conditions in your brain," he said. "You are not just a passive victim of your genes."

The authors take issue with those who argue that a decline in cognitive ability is inevitable from the age of 17 onwards. With careful lifestyle choices "you can create spare cognitive capacity," Horne said.

They offer an intriguing list of do's and don'ts and insist that people can be pro-active in keeping their brains agile.

Much of it is pure common sense.