Highlights
- Chocolates are made from cocoa bean which is a rich source of flavanols.
- Flavanols are a class of natural compounds that has neuroprotective effects.
- Eating cocoa after a night of total sleep deprivation actually counteracts the cognitive impairment.
Cocoa Flavanols Improve Cognitive Function
Although randomized controlled trials investigating the acute effect of cocoa flavanols are sparse, most of them point towards a beneficial effect on cognitive performance.
Participants showed, among others, enhancements in working memory performance and improved visual information processing after having had cocoa flavanols.
For women, eating cocoa after a night of total sleep deprivation actually counteracted the cognitive impairment (i.e. less accuracy in performing tasks) that such a night brings about. Promising results for people that suffer from chronic sleep deprivation or work shifts.
The effects of relatively long-term ingestion of cocoa flavanols (ranging from 5 days up to 3 months) have generally been investigated in elderly individuals. It turns out that for them cognitive performance was improved by a daily intake of cocoa flavanols.
And this was exactly the most unexpected and promising result according to authors Valentina Socci and Michele Ferrara from the University of L'Aquila in Italy. "This result suggests the potential of cocoa flavanols to protect cognition in vulnerable populations over time by improving cognitive performance.”
The underlying mechanism is that, the cocoa flavanols have beneficial effects for cardiovascular health and can increase cerebral blood volume in the dentate gyrus of the hippocampus. This structure is particularly affected by aging and therefore the potential source of age-related memory decline in humans.
Should Cocoa Become a Dietary Supplement To Improve Cognition?
"Regular intake of cocoa and chocolate could indeed provide beneficial effects on cognitive functioning over time. There are, however, potential side effects of eating cocoa and chocolate. Those 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 we add to chocolate such as sugar or milk."
Future research should include complex experimental designs combining neuroimaging techniques with physiological and behavioral measures to better elucidate cocoa neuromodulatory properties and directly compare immediate versus long-lasting cognitive effects.
Reference
- Valentina Socci and Michele Ferrara, Enhancing Human Cognition with Cocoa Flavonoids, Frontiers in Nutrition (2017) http://dx.doi.org/10.3389/fnut.2017.00019.
Source-Medindia