Marmite may be brain food, study says

PARIS - In a world bitterly divided into pro - and anti-Marmite factions, lovers of the tangy British spread have found support from an unexpected quarter: brain science.

Experiments found that volunteers who ate a daily spoonful of the dark-brown yeast extract seemed to have higher levels of a vital neuron chemical associated with a healthy brain.

The reason could lie in Marmite's high levels of vitamin B12, the investigators say.