Trehalose: Boost Your Cognitive Clarity

by | Feb 11, 2025 | News

Trehalose is a naturally occurring sugar found in mushrooms, honey, lobsters, and shrimp. It’s been used for decades by different plants and insects to protect proteins in their cells, especially in extreme environmental conditions. Recent studies show we can use trehalose for improving cognitive function and clarity.

 

Regaining Focus

It’s normal to want better focus, memory, and cognitive vitality as we get older. Using trehalose can support these goals. Studies on aging populations show trehalose supplementation can improve working memory, focus, and processing speed.[1],[2]

Trehalose also supports neuronal health and development, autophagy activity (the recycling of dead cells to make new cells), reduced nerve cell death, and reduced loss of nerve cells, as demonstrated in a 2021 study that used trehalose to help rehabilitate rats with spine injuries.[3]  This neuro-protective mechanism further promotes cognitive clarity into older age.

 

Trehalose At Work

Trehalose works in several ways to support cognitive clarity:

● Trehalose is an autophagy inducer.[4] This means it stimulates cells to clear out broken cell parts to increase the body’s efficiency.

● As autophagy declines, the brain’s mental processing slows down. Trehalose can help to slow this process by reducing inflammatory proteins called cytokines in the brain, and turning on pathways in the brain that preserve thinking skills, memory, and cognition.[5]

● Our brain cells need a delicate balance of water and nutrients to stay healthy. Trehalose acts as an “osmolyte” – meaning it keeps everything in balance by preventing brain cells from getting too dry or too swollen. This maintains the proper structure of the cells.[6]

 

Moving Forward with Trehalose

By supporting the health of your brain and nervous system with multiple mechanisms, trehalose creates an environment for the brain that supports focus, memory retrieval, and quick processing.

Learn more about incorporating trehalose into your diet with Dr Coy’s sugar mixtures. Dr. Johannes Coy, founder of Intelligent Sugar, has dedicated his research to understanding tagatose and other natural sugars that promote health. He developed a special blend designed to offer steady energy without the harmful effects of typical sugars. These natural sugars, including trehalose, are processed by the body in a way that helps you avoid blood-sugar spikes.

 

 

 

 

[1] Roquet A, Hinault T, Badier JM, Lemaire P. Aging and sequential strategy interference: a magnetoencephalography study in arithmetic problem solving. Front Aging Neurosci. 2018;10:365763.
[2] Lafrenière J, Carbonneau É, Laramée C, et al. Is the canadian healthy eating index 2007 an appropriate diet indicator of metabolic health? Insights from dietary pattern analysis in the predise study. Nutrients. 2019;11(7):1597.
[3] Palomeras-Vilches A, Viñals-Mayolas E, Bou-Mias C, et al. Adherence to the mediterranean diet and bone fracture risk in middle-aged women: a case control study. Nutrients. 2019;11(10):2508.
[4] Zhou K, Chen H, Xu H, Jia X. Trehalose augments neuron survival and improves recovery from spinal cord injury via mtor-independent activation of autophagy. Oxid Med Cell Longev. 2021;2021:8898996.
[5] Kang YL, Saleem MA, Chan KW, Yung BYM, Law HKW. Trehalose, an mTOR independent autophagy inducer, alleviates human podocyte injury after puromycin aminonucleoside treatment. PLoS One. 2014;9(11):e113520.
[6] Yu S, Park H, Kim W. Trehalose inhibits inflammatory responses through mitochondrial reprogramming in raw 264. 7 macrophages. Antioxidants (Basel). 2023;12(6):1166.