Posted on 08/08/2013 7:17:43 PM PDT by Innovative
In the new study, the team from Harvard randomly assigned 60 elderly people to drink two cups of flavanol-rich or flavanol-poor cocoa every day for a month.
There weren't any overall differences between the high- and low-flavanol groups in terms of cognitive abilities, so the researchers looked a little deeper. They found that people who had compromised blood flow to the brain and white matter damage at the beginning of the study did show a difference after drinking the cocoa for a month: Blood flow in their brains improved by about 8%, and the time it took them to complete a working memory test dropped from 167 seconds to 116 seconds.
The problem is that not only do we not know exactly how cocoa does this, but we don’t really even know what compound in it is responsible.
While the authors don't think cocoa's effects have to do with the flavanols, they do say that in the future, "regular cocoa consumption may be a strategy to minimize (perhaps even reverse) cerebral vascular pathology in neurodegenerative disorders, regardless of its flavanol content."
(Excerpt) Read more at forbes.com ...
PS. This article is from Forbes magazine, so I think it deserves to be posted in News.
CHOCOLATE!
Does anyone remember Woody Allen’s “Sleeper?” Wasn’t the line something like “Here, have some chocolate and tobacco...”
hot cocoa for breakfast and night time
Yesterday, I was in coffee aisle of grocery and past coffee saw canister of Swiss Miss hot chocolate mix without sugar, and I bought it. I’ll have a cup of that now.
Yumminess.
The thing that jumps out at me is the cocoa butter.
Cocoa butter contains a high proportion of saturated fats, derived from stearic and palmitic acids.
Stearic acid occurs in many animal and vegetable fats and oils, but it is more abundant in animal fat (up to 30%) than vegetable fat (typically <5%). The important exceptions are cocoa butter and shea butter where the stearic acid content (as a triglyceride) is 28–45%.
You can make guiltless sugar-free cocoa with stevia. Delicious.
I saw this thread and just had to get up and start some water heating... yum.
Beans are vegetables.
Cocoa comes from beans.
Chocolate is a vegetable!
However, I suspect the Mayans (royalty only were allowed chocolate) didn't use any milk - or Llama milk?
Cocoa is a stimulant, but I had not heard that it might improve brain function.
They mixed it with water, chilies, vanilla and cornmeal. They might have added in a bit of agave nectar.
“You can make guiltless sugar-free cocoa with stevia. Delicious.”
What I got is sugarless, and I did have a cup - the cup is larger than a usual cup.
Beans are legumes. Legumes are fruits. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Legume
Dark chocolate is now supposed to be good for the heart.
organic chocolate melted with “So Delicious Dairy free French Vanilla creamer” !!
Now there is heaven in a cup!
Yes, one scientist told another that people used to think that steak and hot fudge were bad. Her reply was, “Incredible!” That was a great movie with great music. I wish there have been a soundtrack.
Keep on eating that dark chocolate!
Finding out what does it would spoil the fun.
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