Here’s great news for all chocolate lovers.
It has been found that the cocoa bean is a rich source of flavanols that have neuroprotective effects
by the researchers from University of L’Aquila in Italy.
The researchers examined the effects of acute and chronic administration of cocoa flavanols on different cognitive domains and most of them point towards a beneficial effect it has on cognitive performance.
The studies show that eating chocolates regularly can help boost our cognitive abilities and mental health and can also reduce memory decline in older adults. Eating cocoa after total sleep deprivation counteracts the cognitive impairment caused by it, especially for women.
These cocoa flavanols also have beneficial effects for cardiovascular health as it increases cerebral blood volume in the dentate gyrus of the hippocampus – a structure which is affected by aging and is the potential source of age-related memory decline in humans.
Factors such as attention, processing speed, working memory, and verbal fluency were the most unexpected and promising results of the research according to the authors Valentina Socci and Michele Ferrara. This result suggests that the potential of the cocoa flavanols to protect cognition in vulnerable populations is improving.
Thus according to the researchers, regular intake of cocoa and chocolate could provide beneficial effects on cognitive functioning over time.
However, there are potential side effects of eating cocoa and chocolate. The side effects are generally linked to the caloric value of chocolate, some inherent chemical compounds of the cocoa plant such as caffeine and theobromine, and a variety of additives added to chocolate such as sugar or milk.
Thus a little chocolate now and then never hurts.
