I found this on the momentum site this morning! Yippee for Chocolate!
Chocolate may boost brain function
A cocoa drink rich in flavanols - the same antioxidants found in
chocolate - may help people with mild memory problems improve their
brain function, according to Italian researchers.
Flavanols are found in tea, grapes, red wine, apples and especially in
cocoa plants and are associated with a decreased risk of dementia, the
researchers said.
"The prevention of dementia has to be started early in the life through
a healthy lifestyle including adequate cardiovascular risk-factor
control, regular physical activity, weight control and a
kilojoule-controlled and nutritionally balanced diet," said lead
researcher Dr Giovambattista Desideri, director of the geriatric
division in the department of life, health and environmental sciences at
the University of L'Aquila.
"In this context, regular cocoa flavanol consumption seems to represent
an effective strategy in preserving brain and cardiovascular health and
function," he said.
Flavanols' ability to help maintain brain function may arise from their
ability to protect brain cells, improve brain metabolism and blood
flow, which helps preserve memory, the researchers said. The report was
published in Hypertension.
How the study was done
For the study, funded by the candy maker, Mars Inc., the researchers
assigned 90 elderly patients with mild memory impairment to consume a
drink containing either 990 milligrams (mg), 520 mg or 45 mg of cocoa
flavanols each day for eight weeks.
The researchers assessed participants' brain function with a variety of tests.
People consuming the high and intermediate amounts of flavanol showed
significant improvement on some of the tests, the study found. They
scored better on measures including hand-eye coordination, working and
verbal memory, and verbal fluency than those in the low-flavanol group.
About 40 percent of the improved mental scores were the result of
lowered insulin resistance seen in the higher-flavanol groups, the study
said. These participants also had reduced blood sugar and blood
pressure, and lower levels of a marker for oxidative damage to the
cells.
These data are in agreement with a consistent body of data from
literature that consumption of flavonoid-rich foods - including dark
chocolate - is associated with a reduction of insulin resistance,
according to study background information. "In other words, cocoa
flavanols are able to improve control of blood sugar," Desideri said.
Chocolate could preserve mental health
"Given the global rise in cognitive [brain] disorders due to
progressive 'graying' of population in Western countries, our findings
provide encouraging evidence that consuming cocoa flavanols could
represent a useful intervention for preserving mental health," he said.
It is important to note this study was not done with chocolate, but
with lower-calorie, nutritionally balanced drinks rich in cocoa
flavanols, Desideri said.
"Based on the current explosion of obesity, which is particularly
evident in children, we should be careful when recommending chocolate
ingestion to our patients," he said. "In real life, the progressive
increment of body weight due to an unbalanced diet is likely to
counterbalance the positive effects of cocoa on vascular function."
Dr. Sam Gandy, associate director of the Mount Sinai Alzheimer's
Disease Research Center at the Mount Sinai School of Medicine in New
York City, said that "the study is interesting but requires replication
before it can be taken seriously."
"The lifestyle intervention with the strongest science behind it is
physical exercise," he said. "I would recommend physical exercise before
I would recommend chocolate."
While the study found an association between cocoa flavanols and mental
function scores, it did not prove a cause-and-effect relationship.
Read more:
Dark chocolate lowers heart disease risk
More information
For more about dementia, visit the U.S. National Library of Medicine.
(Copyright © 2012 HealthDay. All rights reserved.)
