Chocolate Can Improve Brain Functions

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Here’s one for the books with everyone’s favourite – chocolate, as studies have shown that it can make you smarter and give you enough reason to love it more.

A recent study from Appetite indicated that those who eat chocolates at least once every week show good improvement in their cognitive brain functions, especially with memory and abstract reasoning.

This is due to high concentration levels of cocoa compounds known as flavanols found in chocolate that protects the brain from age-related cognitive decline and oxidative stress.

Researchers also claimed that flavanols positively impacts the brain and are more abundant in dark chocolate than white chocolate or milk. These flavanol compounds can also be found in red fruits like berries and grapes.

Another study discovered that a cocoa extract called lavado was found to help prevent damage to the brain’s nerve pathways for patients diagnosed with Alzheimer’s disease.

Aside from chocolates making you smarter, researchers further claim that biologically active phenolic compounds found in chocolate helps reduce the damaging effects of oxidative stress, as well as lowers the risk of atherosclerosis and regulates blood pressure.

Lead researcher Meriill Elias pointed out that the effects of chocolates to cognitive brain function is really significant, as shown by results of evaluations conducted with test participants over a span of several years.

Among the health benefits derived from chocolate consumption are the reduced risk of cardiovascular problems and lowers cholesterol levels, as well as reduce risks of having a stroke.

Here are some of the known health benefits of eating chocolates;

• It has been proven by studies to be good for the heart and circulation as it helps restore flexibility to the arteries.
• It is rich in essential minerals like potassium, selenium, zinc and iron.
• It helps protect the skin from sun damage due to its high concentrations of flavanols.
• It helps lower “bad” cholesterol levels and increase ‘good cholesterol’ levels in the blood.
• It can help in weight loss diet as studies surprisingly found out that it helps trigger brain hormones that control appetite.

Experts, however, pointed out that these benefits come from compounds found in pure and raw chocolate and caution the public that this does not mean people should stack up on chocolate bars that are rich in sugar and other fattening ingredients.

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