Chocolate May Be Key to Improve Memory
Photo Courtesy of www.latimes.com
Scientists have found that chocolate doesn’t only help blood flow but 60-year-olds memory work like a 30 or 40-year-olds memory, according to LA Times. A small trial set out to explore the effect of dietary “flavanols”(flavanols are a part in coca beans) on the dentate gyrus is part of the hippocampal formation. It plays a critical role in certain kinds of memory.
Scott Small, a professor of neurology at Columbia University’s College of Physicians and Surgeons, researches Alzheimer’s, but he also studies the memory loss that occurs during the normal aging process. Research on the commonplace “senior moments” focuses on the hippocampus, an area of the brain involved with formation of new memories. In particular, one area of the hippocampus, the dentate gyrus, which helps distinguish one object from another, has lured researchers on age-related memory problems, according to scientificamerican.com.
Mars Company created a test drink that concentrated about 900 milligrams of flavanols. They tested this on 19 people, aged 50-69. These people drank the test drink for 3 months daily. Another group this time 18 people drank a different test drink. This test drink only contained 10 milligrams of flavonols, according to LA Times.
“You’d have to eat 25 chocolate bars a day to get 900 milligrams of flavanols, the amount we used, which is a bad idea. There is a commercial formulation with a much lower amount [CocoaVia, a supplement from Mars, Inc.],” .according scientificamerican.com . No commercially available formulation has 900 milligrams. Maybe in the future, companies will develop that.
After three months, the group that got the supercharged flavanol drink showed greatly improved performance on the test of memory. The low-flavanol group didn’t show much improvement, according to LA Times.
Kacie Garrity • Dec 16, 2014 at 8:59 pm
I enjoyed reading this article because I learned that chocolate is not only bad for you, but good, and that it’s only bad if you eat to much. This really is an interesting article.
Austin Cribari • Dec 12, 2014 at 10:50 am
This article was awsome now I have proof to tell my mother that I sould eat more chocolate.
Cynthia • Dec 12, 2014 at 10:05 am
Cool article! Thanks for the awesome information
Myka Comia • Nov 18, 2014 at 1:07 pm
I enjoyed reading your article because I know now that chocolate isn’t always bad, only if you eat too much, but it’s really good for you because it helps blood flow. This was a very interesting article.
Shane Norys • Nov 18, 2014 at 12:05 pm
Thanks for telling me! This is making it a good thing to eat chocolate as much as I do now.
Justin Stevens • Nov 17, 2014 at 4:58 am
Glad to know. Straight to the candy bucket for me now.
Gabriela Schrader • Nov 16, 2014 at 3:37 pm
I enjoyed reading your article because I learned that iI can eat more chocolate! ( Just kidding, but it was still very interesting)
Justina Lai • Nov 13, 2014 at 5:02 pm
Just another reason to prove chocolate is awesome.