Lemon balm 'may help memory'

A weed found in gardens can boost the memory, researchers in the north-east of England claim.
Lemon balm, a shrub that resembles a small nettle, improved "secondary memory" in tested volunteers according to two academics at Northumbria University.

In the laboratory it also had a biochemical effect known to be important to memory.

Dr Andrew Scholey and Dr David Kennedy, based in Newcastle, made capsules of dried lemon balm and gave them to a group of 20 volunteers.

Their memory was then tested one, three, and six hours later.

The findings, presented on Thursday at the British Psychological Society's annual conference in Bournemouth, showed no effect on working memory - the constant recall of continual events during the day.

Source BBC News