Cocoa consumption may lead to healthy brain aging! According to a study published in the
November 21, 2014 edition of the journal Nature
Neuroscience, cocoa products contain flavanols that improve blood vessel
function. Flavanols are potent
antioxidants with anti-inflammatory benefits.
Further, some research on flavanols on animals and humans suggests a
protective factor on brain function including dementia and stroke.
Another study published in the American Journal of Clinical Nutrition (2015) also suggests that
cocoa is beneficial for brain health. In
the double-blind, parallel-arm study, ninety older adults [ages 61-85] without
dementia were administered cognitive assessments [MMSE, Trail Making Test B,
and Verbal Fluency Test] to determine baseline cognitive scores. They were divided into three groups of thirty
and consumed different doses of Cocoa-Pro added to a beverage. The Very High Flavanol [VHF] group consumed
993 mgs daily; the Intermediate Flavanol [IF] group consumed 520 mgs daily; the
Low Flavanol [LF] group consumed 48 mgs daily. After eight weeks, the test
ended and all ninety were again administered the same cognitive
assessments. The VHF group not only had
improved cognitive assessment scores, but the speed in which they completed
them also improved. The IF group also
showed some improvement and the LF group showed no change. This dietary intervention study suggests that
regular intake of flavanols may support improved brain health among older
adults without dementia. This is
attributed to the improved blood vessel function from injecting high doses of
flavanols for eight weeks.
Cocoa-Pro, the product used in the study, is not the
same as chocolate candy and eating chocolate will not produce the same effects! The Mars Corporation has been studying the
benefits of cocoa for over twenty years and this particular product is a pure
form of cocoa marketed as CocoaVia.
Their cocoa research website is http://www.marscocoascience.com/ CocoaVia is widely available and
affordable. I recently purchased a
bottle of 60 capsules at Kroger grocery store for $29. Two capsules contain 250mg of cocoa flavanols
and 900 mg of cocoapro cocoa extract. The
CocoaVia website is http://www.cocoavia.com/
A third article about cocoa flavanols published in
the Institute of Pharmacology,
Biocenter Niederursel, University of Frankfurt, Germany, suggests that cocoa
flavanols contain “neuroprotective food components” and act as
antioxodants. Their article indicates
that cocoa flavanols may result in healthy brain aging by preventing some
declines in cognitive functioning, as brain tissue is highly vascularized . They identified flavanols as having a
favorable effect on neuro-inflammatory events.
Caution:
No cocoa flavanol studies have been conducted on older adults with dementia or
Alzheimer’s disease. Therefore, these
studies do NOT suggest that cocoa flavanols are beneficial to persons
who already have been diagnosed with memory disorders.
