Could Chocolate Help Prevent Dementia and Stroke?

Possible, according to a newly published study which indicates that cocoa flavanols increase blood flow to the brain and thus help in cognitive performance.

In a scientific study of healthy, older adults ages 59 to 83, Harvard medical scientists found that study participants who regularly drank a cocoa flavanol-rich beverage made using the Mars, Incorporated Cocoapro® process had an eight percent increase in brain blood flow after one week, and 10 percent increase after two weeks.

In this first-of-its-kind study, the researchers found both short and long-term benefits of cocoa flavanols for brain blood flow, offering future potential for the one in seven older Americans currently living with dementia. When the flow of blood to the brain slows over time, the result may be structural damage and dementia. Scientists speculate that maintaining an increased blood flow to the brain could slow this cognitive decline.

The study has been published recently in the journal Neuropsychiatric Disease and Treatment, but the story is no longer new to me though. I’ve already blogged about a report on the effects of flavanol on the blood flow to the brain more than a year ago. Perhaps the same data set, just took longer to publish?

Image from CocoaVia.com