Did someone say.."chocolate has benefits"?

    For most of us, chocolate has always been near and dear to our hearts. Growing up, dark chocolate has been my "go-to" treat, but most of the time, I am left feeling guilty eating it...but not anymore! Although there are high fat and carbohydrates in cacao, flavonoids and methylxanthines in chocolate have improved cognitive and cardiovascular function. 

    Flavonoids are plant compounds that play a role as antioxidants via the upregulation of nitric oxide production. Methylxanthines are theobromine and caffeine. These two substances are mild stimulants within the central nervous system. Studies have shown that flavonoids concentrate within regions of the brain responsible for learning and memory, specifically the hippocampus. This can occur by either cellular cascades that ultimately promote neurogenesis, neuronal function and brain connectivity or by blood-flow enhancement and angiogenesis. Interestingly, flavonoids may help protect against health conditions correlated with disruption of cerebral blood flow and oxidative stress, such as Alzheimer’s disease, dementia, and Parkinson’s disease. As for methylxanthine, these permeate through the blood-brain barrier and increasingly activates a cellular cascade that leads to an expression of neurotrophins that aid in learning and memory functions. Thus, by eating chocolate, there is an increase in theobromine levels in plasma and cognition function is enhanced. However, three weeks after the intake, theobromine levels in plasma will return to baseline. 

    With continuous discoveries of how these flavonoids and methylxanthine in chocolate give us health benefits, what would be interesting to research next is whether the caffeine in methylxanthine also plays a role in enhancing cognitive function. This question could potentially be explained outside of chocolate, since caffeine is also in other products, such as coffee and tea. 

    Overall, with these new findings, eating chocolate shouldn’t make you feel as guilty to eat, for it improves cognitive function. 

References:

Sokolov, A. N., Pavlova, M. A., Klosterhalfen, S., & Enck, P. (2013). Chocolate and the brain: Neurobiological impact of cocoa flavanols on cognition and behavior. Neuroscience & Biobehavioral Reviews, 37(10), 2445-2453. doi:10.1016/j.neubiorev.2013.06.013

Sumiyoshi, E., Matsuzaki, K., Sugimoto, N., Tanabe, Y., Hara, T., Katakura, M., . . . Shido, O. (2019). Sub-Chronic Consumption of Dark Chocolate Enhances Cognitive Function and Releases Nerve Growth Factors: A Parallel-Group Randomized Trial. Nutrients, 11(11), 2800. doi:10.3390/nu11112800