Drinking cocoa can increase your mental agility, research claims

Drinking cocoa can increase your mental agility due to the presence of flavanols, a chemical that is abundant in cocoa beans.

Researchers in the United Kingdom and the United States have found that healthy adults perform better on difficult cognitive tasks when participants consume cocoa beverages containing high levels of flavanols.

Participants complete these tasks by increasing blood oxygenation of the frontal lobe (a brain region that plays an important role in cognition and decision making) faster and more significantly after drinking flavanol-rich cocoa. Was helpful.

Flavanols are antioxidants and are abundant in tea, red wine, blueberries, apples, pears, cherries, peanuts, and cocoa beans, the seeds of the cocoa tree.

By fortifying supermarket cocoa with flavanols, food producers can help increase phytonutrients that activate the brain in our diet.

They are already well known for their beneficial effects on cardiovascular health. 1993 study It shows a negative relationship between total intake and coronary heart disease.

However, researchers claim that this new study is the first to discover the positive effects of flavanols on cerebrovascular function and cognitive abilities in young healthy adults.

“Flavanols are small molecules found in many fruits, vegetables, and cocoa,” said Dr. Catalina Rendero, a research author at the University of Birmingham in the United Kingdom.

“They are known to give fruits and vegetables a bright color and help with vascular function.

“I wanted to know if flavanols also benefit the cerebrovascular system and if they could have a positive impact on cognitive function.”

In collaboration with a professor of psychology at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign, Dr. Lendiro recruited 18 male adults between the ages of 18 and 40.

All 18 participants were nonsmokers and had no known brain, heart, vascular or respiratory illness.

The researchers said: “Women were excluded from the study to ensure a more homogeneous sample and to minimize the effect of hormonal fluctuations during the menstrual cycle on vascular outcomes.”

The team tested participants before taking cocoa flavanols and in two separate tests. One received flavanol-rich cocoa and the other received processed cocoa containing very low levels of flavanols.

Researchers used a “double-blind” design in which neither participants nor researchers knew what type of cocoa was consumed in each trial to prevent expectations from affecting results.

Approximately two hours after ingesting cocoa, participants performed standard procedures to challenge blood circulation in the brain.

This involves breathing 5% carbon dioxide (about 100 times the normal concentration in the air), creating an effect called hypercapnia.

This is a standard way to challenge the cerebrovascular system and determine how well it responds.

“The body usually responds by increasing blood flow to the brain,” Gratton said.

“This brings more oxygen and also allows the brain to eliminate more carbon dioxide.”

Next, using non-invasive near-infrared spectroscopy, a technique that uses light to capture changes in blood oxygen levels, we tracked increased oxygenation in the frontal cortex and said, “From excess CO2 in the brain. See how well you are defending yourself. ”

The frontal cortex plays an important role in behavioral planning, coordination, and decision making.

Each participant underwent a CO2 test twice before and after drinking a cocoa drink. In one of them, the drink was rich in flavanols.

Following the test, participants were asked to complete several progressively complex cognitive tests that sometimes required management of inconsistent or competing requirements.

The cognitive test was based on a modified version of Stroop task – This involves identifying if there is a discrepancy between the name of the color and the ink on which it is printed (for example, the word “purple” that appears in green ink).

The researchers found that most of the participants showed stronger and faster cerebral oxygenation responses after exposure to cocoa flavanols than at baseline or after ingesting flavanol-deficient cocoa.

“Maximum oxygenation levels were more than three times higher with high flavanol cocoa compared to low flavanol cocoa, and the oxygenation reaction was about a minute faster,” said Dr. Rendiro.

After taking cocoa flavanols, participants improved performance even on the most difficult cognitive tests and correctly resolved the problem 11% faster than at baseline or when taking flavanol-reduced cocoa.

However, there was no measurable difference in performance for simple tasks.

“This suggests that flavanols can only be beneficial during more difficult cognitive tasks,” Rendiro said.

“Our results show clear benefits for flavanol-rich drink participants, but only if the task is complicated enough,” said Dr. Lendiro.

“This can be associated with results on improved blood oxygen saturation. If challenged further, the brain needs to improve blood oxygen levels to manage the challenge.”

Participants had variability in their response to cocoa flavanols, researchers discovered and most benefited from flavanol intake, but there were small groups who did not.

Four of the 18 participants had no significant difference in the oxygenation response of the brain after taking flavanols and did not improve performance in the test.

However, these four participants already showed the best oxygenation response at baseline.

“This may indicate that there is little room for improvement in people who are already fairly healthy,” said Dr. Lendiro.

“Overall, the findings suggest that improved vascular activity after exposure to flavanols is associated with improved cognitive function.”

The study is published at Science report..