LIFESTYLE NEWS - We love chocolate and so does our brain. In fact, it's so good that cocoa could even be seen as a supplement to protect cognition.
It’s said that a balanced diet is chocolate in both hands. Although it’s a comical phrase used to justify chocolate snacking, research has found some truth in it.
Italian researchers examined literature on what happens to our brains a few hours after eating cocoa flavanols, and what happens when a cocoa flavanol enriched diet is sustained for a prolonged period of time.
Cocoa boosts memory and visual processing
After having had cocoa flavanols, participants showed the following:
- Enhancements in working memory performance
- Improved visual information processing
Cocoa helps sleep-deprived women
For women, eating cocoa after a night of total sleep deprivation is a good idea.
The research found that cocoa actually counteracts the cognitive impairment linked to a lack of sleep.
Cocoa protects the ageing brain
The effects of relatively long-term daily cocoa flavanols consumption (ranging from five days up to three months) greatly improved attention, processing speed, working memory and verbal fluency.
These effects were most pronounced in older adults with a starting memory decline or other mild cognitive impairments.
