Monday, September 17, 2012

Cocoa for brain health

A new study hints that regular consumption of cocoa might improve cognitive function in older adults with mild cognitive impairment, perhaps by improving glucose-insulin metabolism.
"Given the global rise in cognitive disorders due to the 'graying' of populations in Western countries, our findings provide encouraging evidence that consuming cocoa could represent a fascinating new tool for preserving/improving cognitive function" lead author of the study said. 

These findings are intriguing. "There is great interest in identifying nutritional factors that could potentially delay or prevent conversion of mild cognitive impairment to dementia," according to a national spokesperson for the American Society of Nutrition, who was not involved in the study.  What makes this study novel, she said, is that it is a randomized controlled trial, it employed well-known cognitive tests, and it used 3 levels of cocoa: low, medium, and high.

Based on prior studies, intake of cocoa may be associated with a decreased risk for incident dementia, a lower prevalence of cognitive impairment, and better cognitive evolution over 10 years in aging adults, the authors note.

To investigate further, 90 elderly individuals with mild cognitive impairment were recruited  into the Cocoa, Cognition and Aging study. They were randomly assigned to consume once daily for 8 weeks a drink containing 1 of 3 levels of cocoa.  Overall compliance was good — 99.6% at week 4 and 99.4% at week 8, with no between-group differences.  The team assessed cognitive function.  

These are intriguing findings that should be followed up with additional research studies to confirm these findings for cocoa.

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