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According to scientists from the Columbia University Medical Center in New York, adding antioxidants from cocoa to the diet can improve the memory. These flavanols act on a brain area responsible for cognition. Results of this study are published in Nature Neuroscience.

Professor Scott Small, MD, research coordinator and director of the Alzheimer’s Disease Research Center, earlier established a connection between age-related memory decline and changes in the dentate gyrus, a part of the brain. Also, research in mice proved that flavanols from cocoa beans act on neurological connections in the dentate gyrus. The authors therefore decided to aim for improvement of cognitive function by administration of flavanols.

Using fMRI, a technique to map brain activity, the researchers assessed which part of the dentate gyrus is affected in age-related memory decline. Based on this information, a cognitive task was developed to measure activity in this part of the brain. Subsequently, 37 healthy volunteers between 50 and 69 years of age were divided in two groups. The first group received a flavanol-rich diet for three months, whereas the second group ate food that was poor in flavanol. Before and after the study, every participant underwent the developed cognitive task as well as a brain scan.  Also, the blood volume in the dentate gyrus was measured. Results showed that participants that received a flavanol-rich diet displayed a significant improvement of their cognitive functions, compared to participants that received a flavanol-poor diet.

Small and his colleagues indicate that they should repeat their study with a larger number of participants. Also, they emphasise that the compound used in this study is not the same as chocolate. Consumption of chocolate does not necessarily have to result in the effect found in this study.

Source: Nature Neuroscience.

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