One food is capable of boosting BDNF after just a single meal: rye groats. Healthy young adults were randomized to a late-evening meal of either a whole-grain bread containing intact rye kernels or regular white bread. Before breakfast the next morning, more than ten hours after eating their evening meals, their blood was drawn. Those who had eaten the whole intact rye the night before had 33 percent higher BDNF levels. Given the timing, this is suspected to be a microbiome effect, bolstered by a corresponding 30 percent increase in butyrate levels in the blood.
