Image: MATTHIAS HOFFMANN Getty Images
-
The Wisdom of Psychopaths
In this engrossing journey into the lives of psychopaths and their infamously crafty behaviors, the renowned psychologist Kevin Dutton reveals that there is a...
Read More »
Cognition-Boosting Compounds
It's news chocolate lovers have been craving: raw cocoa may be packed with brain-boosting compounds. Researchers at the University of L'Aquila in Italy, with scientists from Mars, Inc., and their colleagues published findings last September that suggest cognitive function in the elderly is improved by ingesting high levels of natural compounds found in cocoa called flavanols. The study included 90 individuals with mild cognitive impairment, a precursor to Alzheimer's disease. Subjects who drank a cocoa beverage containing either moderate or high levels of flavanols daily for eight weeks demonstrated greater cognitive function than those who consumed low levels of flavanols on three separate tests that measured factors that included verbal fluency, visual searching and attention.
Exactly how cocoa causes these changes is still unknown, but emerging research points to one flavanol in particular: (-)-epicatechin, pronounced “minus epicatechin.” Its name signifies its structure, differentiating it from other catechins, organic compounds highly abundant in cocoa and present in apples, wine and tea. The graph below shows how (-)-epicatechin fits into the world of brain-altering food molecules. Other studies suggest that the compound supports increased circulation and the growth of blood vessels, which could explain improvements in cognition, because better blood flow would bring the brain more oxygen and improve its function.
Animal research has already demonstrated how pure (-)-epicatechin enhances memory. Findings published last October in the Journal of Experimental Biology note that snails can remember a trained task—such as holding their breath in deoxygenated water—for more than a day when given (-)-epicatechin but for less than three hours without the flavanol. Salk Institute neuroscientist Fred Gage and his colleagues found previously that (-)-epicatechin improves spatial memory and increases vasculature in mice. “It's amazing that a single dietary change could have such profound effects on behavior,” Gage says. If further research confirms the compound's cognitive effects, flavanol supplements—or raw cocoa beans—could be just what the doctor ordered.
So, Can We Binge on Chocolate Now?
Nope, sorry. A food's origin, processing, storage and preparation can each alter its chemical composition. As a result, it is nearly impossible to predict which flavanols—and how many—remain in your bonbon or cup of tea. Tragically for chocoholics, most methods of processing cocoa remove many of the flavanols found in the raw plant. Even dark chocolate, touted as the “healthy” option, can be treated such that the cocoa darkens while flavanols are stripped.
Researchers are only beginning to establish standards for measuring flavanol content in chocolate. A typical one and a half ounce chocolate bar might contain about 50 milligrams of flavanols, which means you would need to consume 10 to 20 bars daily to approach the flavanol levels used in the University of L'Aquila study. At that point, the sugars and fats in these sweet confections would probably outweigh any possible brain benefits. Mars Botanical nutritionist and toxicologist Catherine Kwik-Uribe, an author on the University of L'Aquila study, says, “There's now even more reasons to enjoy tea, apples and chocolate. But diversity and variety in your diet remain key.”*
The Kuna-Cocoa Connection
The Kuna Indians who live on the San Blas Islands off Panama drink an average of five cups of high-flavanol cocoa daily. The island population is also remarkable for extremely low rates of hypertension, unlike the Kuna on the mainland, who consume processed cocoa mix low in flavanols. Researchers, suspecting the island Kuna's staggering cocoa consumption might account for their superior health, began investigating the health effects of cocoa's raw compounds. This investigation led to the finding that (-)-epicatechin, one particularly abundant cocoa compound, supports circulation.
Smart People Eat Chocolate?
The more chocolate a population consumes, the more Nobel Laureates it has: Columbia University's Franz Messerli discovered a positive correlation between annual chocolate consumption per capita and a country's number of Nobel Prize winners per 10 million people. The study is not meant to seriously imply that brilliance is the result of chocolate consumption—although Messerli believes chocolate probably has some benefits, his analysis was inspired purely by whimsical curiosity and exemplifies the hazards of reading too much into a correlation.
*Erratum (2/15/13): This sentence erroneously identifies Catherine Kwik-Uribe as a nutirionist and toxicologist. She is a nutrition scientist.
Rights & Permissions
See what we're tweeting about
15 Comments
Add Comment"A typical one and a half ounce chocolate bar might contain about 50 milligrams of flavanols, which means you would need to consume 10 to 20 bars daily to approach the flavanol levels used in the University of L'Aquila study. At that point, the sugars and fats in these sweet confections would probably outweigh any possible brain benefits."
Reply | Report Abuse | Link to thisIMO, that's a matter of personal priorities...
Hmmmm, 10 to 20 bars daily, I know a few people who do that and more and believe me, they are no Nobel Laureates but they do scare the crap out of any weighing machines they approach....
Reply | Report Abuse | Link to thisCould concentrate it into a kind of chocolate flavanol crack
Reply | Report Abuse | Link to thisThis sounds like the start of another faddish food supplement and wonder pill.
Reply | Report Abuse | Link to thisThe fact that this study was done "...with scientists from Mars, Inc....", a purveyor of chocolate, means that the findings should be viewed with considerable skepticism.
Reply | Report Abuse | Link to thisYeah!
Reply | Report Abuse | Link to thisToo good to be true. Who paid for this? Chocolate manufacturers?
Reply | Report Abuse | Link to thisPut it in a capsule. Then we'll talk.
I've got a bottle of Lipo-Flavonoid capsules - a dietary supplement that purportedly reduces tinnitus. I never noticed anything, except that it didn't satisfy like eating fudge, and I still had that 3 kHz ringing in my ears!
Reply | Report Abuse | Link to thisI tend to eat chocolate in binges, with a personal preference for dark chocolate. When I do indulge, I perhaps over-do it for several days or a week or more, but never have run into a weight issue from it.
Reply | Report Abuse | Link to thisI never noticed any cognitive difference, up or down between binges. If anything, I get a little more emotional when on a binge. Is that intelligence blossoming? I buy name brands mostly. I don't know if the effect takes longer than my binges(the article states the study period was eight weeks), or if it is a processing/storage/shelf life thing. Can one buy raw coco at the supermarket?
I would try it!
Some spanish needed to understand this equation:
Reply | Report Abuse | Link to thisCocoa is to chocolate like coca is to caca.
It sounds like raw chocolate, but not processes is good for you.
Reply | Report Abuse | Link to thisAnother consideration is that the theobromine, which is an adenosine receptor similar to caffeine in coffee, could be having a beneficial effect. Caffeine is actually protective against Alzheimer disease, and apparently acts through the adenosine receptor, to reduce inflammation. Inflammation apparently occurs through excess adenosine, released when there is inflammation, so reducing inflammation by caffeine in coffee, and probably by theobromine, a similar chemical in cocoa.
Me, too. I know my Mom used to make wonderful chocolate fudge back in the 1950s using some kind of Hershey's unsweetened powder, in a can similar to their other powdered products. I don't know if it's still available or how close to raw or unprocessed cocoa it is...
Reply | Report Abuse | Link to thisI suspect that causation runs the other way. The smarter a population is, the more likely its members are to appreciate the many benefits of chocolate ;).
Reply | Report Abuse | Link to thisSeriously, while cocoa probably does not raise cognative ability, it may well have a counter-attention-deficit effect which allows brilliant but erratic individuals to temporarily achieve laser-like focus on the problem at hand. This could increase the Nobel-worthy output of themselves or their colleagues.
Unsweetened cocoa powder is the best-kept secret, as it's hidden amongst the baking ingredients in any supermarket!
Reply | Report Abuse | Link to thisI mix it in with a freshly made herbal infusion, like mint, or lemon-scented myrtle, and it tastes very cocoa-lesque, Maya-style. (After all they didn't have cows, or cane sugar.)
But for raw cocoa, there are those crunchy cocoa nibs that come in pouches, ready to scatter on our mocha ; we even do this in cafes now; it's our theobromine medication!
Cocoa is available but you may miss the sweet...it's bitter and the creaminess unless you add that also. I strongly disagree with the spanish analogy.
Reply | Report Abuse | Link to this