Can Chocolate Reverse Age-Related Memory Decline?

Naturally occurring flavanols found in cocoa reversed age-related memory decline in healthy older adults, according to a recent study.

The study was the first to directly link age-related memory decline to changes in a specific brain region and to identify that a dietary intervention can improve that form of memory decline.
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For the study, researchers used a cocoa flavanol test drink created by Mars Inc., which used an extraction process to take flavanols from cocoa beans.

Investigators monitored 37 healthy participants (ages 50 to 69 years) who were administered the drink through a randomized, high-flavanol diet (900 mg of daily flavanols) or a low-flavonol diet (10 mg per day) for a 3-month duration.

Researchers used brain imaging to measure blood volume in the dentate gyrus and a 20-minute pattern-recognition memory test to examine episodic memory—the type of memory thought to be developed in the dentate gyrus.

“When we imaged our research subjects’ brains, we found noticeable improvements in the function of the dentate gyrus in those who consumed the high-cocoa-flavanol drink,” said Adam M. Brickman, PhD, lead author of the study and an associate professor of neuropsychology at the Taub Institute.

According to Brickman and colleagues, the high-flavanol group also tested marginally better on the memory test.

“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,” he said.

The investigators noted that a larger study should be conducted to replicate the study’s findings, which the team plans on organizing in the near future.

The complete study is published in the October issue of the Nature Neuroscience.

-Michelle Canales

References:

Brickman AM, Khan UA, Provenzano FA, et al. Enhancing dentate gyrus function with dietary flavanols improves cognition in older adults. Nature Neuroscience. 2014 October [epub ahead of print] doi: 10.1038/nn.3850.

Columbia University Medical Center. Dietary flavanols reverse age-related memory decline. October 26, 2014.  http://newsroom.cumc.columbia.edu/blog/2014/10/26/flavanols-memory-decline/. Accessed October 27, 2014.