COCOA COULD REVERSE AGE-RELATED MEMORY DECLINE

Cocoa could reverse age-related
memory decline
A new study suggests that naturally occurring
chemicals in cocoa can reverse age-related
memory decline in healthy adults.

As people age, they typically experience a loss in
memory. Previous research has shown that this
normal decline in cognitive function is linked to
changes in an area in the brain's hippocampus
that's responsible for the formation of new
memories, called the dentate gyrus. A team of
researchers from Columbia University Medical
Centre in the US has now shown that consuming
cocoa could reverse these changes.
“Finding the cause-and-effect relationship was the
main motive for the study but even though it
wasn’t our primary goal, we found that this
dietary intervention can, in fact, ameliorate
[improve] or even reverse age-related memory
decline,” said Professor Scott Small, lead author
of the study, in an interview with Gary Stix from
Scientific American.
The team investigated the impact of dietary cocoa
flavanols - natural ingredients found in cocoa, on
the function of the dentate gyrus. In the study, 37
middle-aged participants were randomly assigned
either a high-flavanol diet (900 mg of flavanols a
day) or a low-flavanol diet (10 mg of flavanols a
day) for a period of three months. Though the
flavanols are found in cocoa, you would need to
consume 25 chocolate bars to get 900 mg of
flavanols.
The participants underwent brain imaging and
memory tests before and after the diet to evaluate
activity and memory function in the dentate gyrus.
The results revealed that the participants who had
a high-flavanol diet had an increased blood flow
to the dentate gyrus, resulting in improved
function. They also had a 33 percent improvement
in memory as measured by the memory tests
than those who consumed the low-flavanol diet.
“If a participant had the memory of a typical 60-
year-old at the beginning of the study, after three
months that person on average had the memory
of a typical 30- or 40-year-old,” said Small in a
press release.
The team plan to repeat the study with a larger
group of participants to extend their
understanding of the findings, including the
optimal amount of cocoa flavanols needed to
experience benefits to memory. They hope that
this study will help to develop a formula for a
high-flavanol product for commercial use.
According to Pam Belluck from The New York
Times , "The findings support recent research
linking flavanols, especially epicatechin, to
improved blood circulation, heart health and
memory in mice, snails and humans. But experts
said the new study, although involving only 37
participants and partly funded by Mars Inc., the
chocolate company, goes further and was a well-
controlled, randomised trial led by experienced
researchers."
The findings are published in Nature
Neuroscience.