The researchers isolated the benefits from flavanols and found that they reverse mild memory loss in older adults. The same element was found in some tea and some vegetables. Most modern cocoa-processing methods however remove many of the flavanols found in cocoa.
The problem is that the compound is found only in minuscule amounts in the average chocolate bar so you would have to devour a massive amount of chocolate to reach the daily required level. Many would be happy to try of course. Worse yet, the guy who told us that chocolate could help our memories but would make us obese is Dr. Small. Scott A. Small is a professor of neurology and director of the Alzheimer’s Disease Research Center at the Taub Institute at Columbia University Medical Center.
The research also established that memory deteriorates with age because of changes in the dentate gyrus, a region of the hippocampus. The compounds enhance connectivity and metabolic activity in the dentate gyrus. The result could be significant. The research indicated that a person with the memory of a typical 60-year-old could, after just three months, function more like a 30- or 40-year-old.
Not surprisingly, the study was funded by the chocolate maker Mars.
Source: NY Times