Healthy Adults' Brain Oxygenation and Cognition Boosted by Cocoa Flavonols, Study Suggests

Since the holiday season is fast approaching, you might be getting ready with your Christmas sweaters, socks, and your own recipe of hot chocolate that you will drink by the fireplace. A pleasant memory to reminisce and to look forward to, right? Cocoa is used in making that hot chocolate with marshmallows that you love to sip with your loved ones.

But did you know that cocoa does not only give you good memories and heartfelt moments? Researchers from the University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign discover that healthy adults' brains have a faster recovery from a mild vascular challenge and better performance when cocoa flavonols are taken beforehand.

(Photo: Anrita )

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Flavonols are known for their antioxidant properties and beneficial effects on the body. According to the University of California Davis (UC DAVIS), flavonols are phytochemical compounds that are highly concentrated in a variety of plant-based foods and beverages. The university added that consumption of flavonols is connected to various beneficial effects such as increased activity erythrocyte superoxide dismutase or an enzyme found in red blood cells, diminished lymphocyte DNA damage, and increase in plasma antioxidant capacity.

In a statement, co-author of the researcher, and lecturer from the University of Birmingham, Catarina Rendeiro, MSc, Ph.D., added that studies discovered that consuming foods rich in flavonols can be beneficial for vascular function. However, they emphasized that it is the first time associating flavonols to brain vascular function and cognitive performance in young, healthy adults.

Methods and results of the study

According to the release, the participants of the study are composed of non-smokers without known heart, brain, vascular or respiratory disease because, according to the researchers, any effects that can be discovered in the population will be a strong indication that dietary flavanols can progress brain function in healthy people, in two separate trials in which one the participants will consume high-flavonol rich cocoa and low-flavonol level cocoa.

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The results showed that about a couple of hours after consuming cocoa, participants breathed air with 5% carbon dioxide, which according to a psychology professor from the University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign, Gabrielle Gratton, M.D., Ph.D. is a standard method for challenging brain vasculature in finding out how well it will respond. To measure the oxygenation in the frontal cortex, a region of the brain that is vital in planning, the researchers used near-infrared spectroscopy, the release furthers.

The researchers stress in the release that most of the participants have more robust and briskly brain oxygenation feedback after being exposed to cocoa flavonols in contrast to their baseline or after consuming cocoa lacking flavonols. Dr. Rendeiro stresses that maximal oxygenation levels are 3 times higher in the high-flavonol cocoa more than the low-flavonol cocoa. She also added that the oxygenation response in the high-flavonol cocoa is a minute faster than the other.

The researchers also mentioned that 18 study subjects have no significant difference in brain oxygenation response after the intake of cocoa. Overall, she stressed that the findings suggest that cocoa flavonols showed potential help in vascular activity and cognitive function.

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