Healthy Yummy Chocolate

One of the key areas of research into the benefits of chocolate consumption is its effect on cardiovascular disease. Much of the benefits are attributed to its high content of flavanols, a type of polyphenol - antioxidants found in foods like cocoa, tea, berries, and wine. A growing amount of recent research suggests that:

• Chocolate flavonols are especially important in protecting against damage to cholesterol and the lining of the arteries.
• Chocolate flavonols prevent the excessive clumping together of blood platelets that can cause blood clots.
• Frequent chocolate consumption is associated with a nearly 40% reduced risk for heart disease and a 30% reduced risk for a stroke.

New Data:

To investigate the relationship between chocolate consumption and brain health, a group of 60 older people (aged 72.9 ± 5.4 years) without dementia were studied in a double-blind clinical trial. The participants drank two cups of hot cocoa per day for 30 days and did not consume any other chocolate during the study. One group consumed a high flavonol hot cocoa and the other group consumed a lower flavonol version.

At the beginning of the study and then again after 30 days the particpants were given tests of memory and thinking skills, as well as had ultrasounds tests to measure the amount of blood flow to the brain during the tests.

What these researchers and others are showing is that as different areas of the brain need more energy to complete their tasks, they also need greater blood flow. This relationship, called neurovascular coupling, plays an important role developing dementia and/or Alzheimer's disease.

Of the 60 participants, 18 had impaired blood flow at the start of the study. Those people had an 8.3-percent improvement in the blood flow to the working areas of the brain by the end of the study, while there was no improvement for those who started out with regular blood flow.