Experts say the bioactive ingredients that cocoa contains may improve memory decline. An experiment published by the Nature Neuroscience journal was conducted, where flavanol compounds were consumed via prepared cocoa drinks, and 37 volunteers consumed the beverage over a period of three months. The study found that the group of participants that consumed the flavanols in a high dose had major improvements to their memory.
“If a participant had the memory of a typical 60-year-old at the beginning of the study, after three months that person on average had the memory of a typical 30- or 40-year-old,” Scott Small, a neurology professor at Columbia University Medical Center, told CTV News. He added that more research is needed to verify the results.
Flavanol compounds can be found in grapes, blueberries, various vegetables and teas.
