Himalayan Tartary Buckwheat Sprout Powder, Perceived Cognitive Abilities, and Objective Processing Speed: A Randomized, Double-Blind, Placebo-Controlled Trial

In a 12-week randomized double-blind trial in US adults with self-reported cognitive difficulties, Himalayan Tartary buckwheat sprout powder did not change PROMIS Cognitive Function rate (contrast 0.03, p=.59).

• Why it matters: Subjective cognitive problems are common in midlife and later life, and flavonoid-rich foods are proposed to support everyday cognition, but human evidence for Tartary buckwheat sprouts is lacking.
• What they did: Participants (n=848 randomized; 662 analyzed) took 18 g/day HTB sprout powder or matched placebo for 12 weeks, with PROMIS Cognitive Function as the primary outcome and exploratory reaction-time tasks.
• The result: HTB showed nominally faster PROMIS Cognitive Abilities improvement (contrast 0.12, p=.046) and higher meaningful improvement (68.7% vs 52.5%, RR=1.32, p=.003), plus faster Flanker and Stroop reaction times without accuracy loss; primary outcome was unchanged.

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