People who regularly consume cocoa flavanols can think just as well as others, but with less effort. This was revealed in an independent study by Professor Andrew Scholey and Con Stough from the Center for Human Psychopharmacology at Swinburne University in Australia.
Hans Vriens, chief innovation officer at Barry Callebaut, said: “This is the first time that science has positively linked consumption of high flavanol cocoa and chocolate products from Barry Callebaut to improved brain performance. When consumed regularly, the brain is able to complete memory tasks with less effort.”
Three groups of people with different cocoa flavanol intake over 30 days 63 individuals between the ages of 40 and 65 were observed in a randomised, controlled, double-blind study over a sample period of 30 days.
They were divided up into three test groups and consumed a prescribed drink daily. The composition of the chocolate drink varied with regard to the proportion of cocoa flavanols they each contained. For group one the cocoa drink contained 10 g of dark high flavanol chocolate (corresponds to 500 mg cocoa flavanols), for the second group 10g of conventional dark chocolate (corresponds to 250 mg of cocoa flavanols) and for the control group a drink with 10 g of dark chocolate that contained hardly any cocoa flavanols.
During the sample period the test subjects were not allowed to consume products containing caffeine, flavonoid-rich fruits or an excess of alcohol so as not to influence the results of the study.
As the basis for the experiment, the Steady State Visually-Evoked Potential method (SSVEP) was used to measure human brain activity. In order to compare brain activities, on the first and on the 30th day computer-tomography (CT) brain scans of the test subjects were made while participants solved tasks dealing with spatial working memory. Spatial working memory describes the ability to remember, for instance, the location where an object appeared and also to recall a series of earlier locations of other objects.
The results of the study show that the brains of individuals who consumed the cocoa drink with a medium or a high proportion of cocoa flavanols were less strained than those in the control group without cocoa flavanols. Differences in the accuracy or the reaction times of the test subjects in solving the task were not ascertained between the various groups.
Source: Barry Callebaut
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