“Mmm… chocolate”. Remember who said that? It was Homer Simpson. Why do you remember? Maybe it’s because that utterance inspired you to eat some lovely, unctuous, fatty chocolate, which boosted your memory.

For ‘tis written: scientists from the University of California, Irvine, have shown that the molecule oleoylethanolamide (OEA), which is released when fat gets to the gut, can help rats to retain memories after they’ve been through a training exercise. The study came out this week in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences.

The experiments involved giving rats OEA, then checking their ability remember during two exercises – navigating a maze and avoiding something nasty.

Having lots of OEA normally quashes the appetite, tricking the brain into thinking its stomach is full. But this compound also seems to help consolidate memories, reporter John von Radowitz in The Scotsman. (Scotland of course famous for its high-fat cuisine in the guise of deep-fried battered chocolate bars.)

The process might have evolved many years back in our history, the authors suggest.

“Remembering the location and context of a fatty meal was probably an important survival mechanism for early humans,” author Daniele Piomelli told BBC News.

The Daily Telegraph tells us that a memory pill to help “students and Alzheimer’s patients” is on the cards. Whether that is the case or not right now, the work could lead to new therapeutics for people with memory or other cognitive problems, the authors suggest.

Image: By Chotda from Flickr under Creative Commons