:quality(85)//cloudfront-us-east-1.images.arcpublishing.com/infobae/5EYBAI7ITVDCPGXOAYIPKXFGPY.jpg "The power of dark chocolate and its positive effects on the brain")
Chocolate is delicious and the vast majority of people find it hard to resist a chocolate, bar or ice cream that bears the signature of cocoa. Among its many health benefits, a little-known aspect has been added: its ability to improve cognitive functions.
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Research has suggested that chocolate may increase cerebral blood flow, which helps reduce the risk of dementia. The study published in August 2022 in Nutritional Neuroscience reinforced previous evidence of the promising effects of dark or dark chocolate on cognitive health.
Nutritionists generally recommend consuming chocolate in small doses because it can have an effect high in calories, fat and sugar. However, the cocoathe main ingredient of chocolate derived from the bean of the cocoa tree, has many qualities that could benefit the body and mind.
In particular, pure cocoa is highly feeding and is a powerful source of antioxidants, substances that can prevent or delay cell damage caused by free radicals. Unstable and highly reactive molecules produced by the body in response to environmental stress associated with aging and disease. Additionally, cocoa helps regulate blood pressure and prevent cognitive decline.
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Elham Kalantarzedeh, Maryam Radahmadi and Parham Reisi, three researchers from Isfahan University of Medical Sciences in Iranconducted this study in rats to investigate the impact of different dark chocolate consumption patterns on different parts of the brain and its effects on the conditions expressed by the laboratory population following the investigations.
Parham Reisi, a specialist in the Department of Physiology at the Iranian University of Medical Sciences in Isfahan and lead author of the research, said: “Although stress causes brain dysfunction, the consumption of dark chocolate has positive effects on cognitive functions. Our current study investigated the impact of different dark chocolate diets on hippocampal synaptic strength and plasticity, as well as food intake and body weight in chronically isolated rats.
Essentially, Kalantarzedeh and his colleagues wanted to determine whether consumption of dark chocolate to varying degrees affects the potency and plasticity (i.e. adaptability over time) of synapses (i.e. small spaces through which different neurons communicate with each other yes) in the CA1 area of the hippocampus. To do this, they took 35 rats and divided them into five groups of 7, each being fed dark chocolate while under chronic isolation stress, with each group following a different diet.
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The three dark chocolate diet models they tested were called mandatory stress, optional stress, and limited stress. The researchers also measured the food consumption and body weight of the rats they tested on at the start and end of their experiment. Interestingly, they found that all of the dark chocolate diets reduced both the rats’ food intake and their body weight.
The strongest effects, however, were those caused by restricted and compulsory diets. Experiments conducted by this team of researchers suggested that systematic consumption of dark chocolate could reverse the adverse effects of chronic isolation stress on synaptic strength and plasticity in the CA1 area of the hippocampus. This, in turn, would have beneficial effects on memory and learning.
“If our findings are confirmed in future studies in humans, the work would provide evidence of the positive effects of cocoa on the brain and cognitive abilities,” concluded the specialist.
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