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Study explores the effects of eating dark chocolate on the brain
https://medicalxpress.com ^ | Jul 14, 2022 | by Ingrid Fadelli , Medical Xpress

Posted on 07/15/2022 1:17:21 PM PDT by Red Badger

Eating chocolate is typically discouraged by nutritionists, as it is can be high in calories, fat and sugar. Cocoa, however, chocolate's primary ingredient derived from the seed of the cacao plant, has been found to have numerous qualities that could be beneficial for both the body and mind.

Most notably, pure cocoa is highly nutritious and is a powerful source of antioxidants, substances that can prevent or slow down cell damage caused by free radicals. Free radicals are unstable and highly reactive molecules produced by the body when responding to environmental stresses, which are associated with aging and disease. In addition, cocoa has been found to help regulate the blood pressure and prevent cognitive decline.

Despite these potentially beneficial properties, chocolate bars rarely contain cocoa alone, but also sugar, oils, butter, and other ingredients that are unhealthy for the body. The healthiest type of chocolate is thus likely to be dark chocolate comprised of high percentages of cocoa.

Elham Kalantarzedeh, Maryam Radahmadi and Parham Reisi, three researchers at Isfahan University of Medical Science in Iran have recently carried out a study on rats investigating the impact of different dark chocolate dietary patterns on synapses in a specific region of the brain, known as the hippocampal CA1 area. Their findings, published in Nutritional Neuroscience, suggest that dark chocolate consumption could have beneficial effects on the brain of individuals exhibiting chronic isolation stress.

"Although stress causes brain dysfunction, consumption of dark chocolate (DC) has positive effects on brain functions," the researchers wrote in their paper. "The current study investigated the impact of different DC dietary patterns on synaptic potency and plasticity in the hippocampal CA1 area, as well as food intake and body weight in rats under chronic isolation stress."

Essentially, Kalantarzedeh and her colleagues wanted to determine whether eating dark chocolate in different degrees affected the potency and plasticity (i.e., adaptability over time) of synapses (i.e., tiny gaps across which different neurons communicate with each other) in the hippocampal CA1 area.

To do this, they took 35 rats and divided them into five groups of 7, each of which was fed dark chocolate while experiencing chronic isolation stress, with each group following a different dietary pattern. The three dark chocolate dietary patterns they tested were dubbed stress-compulsory, stress-optional and stress-restricted.

"The stressed rats on a compulsory diet only received DC and the ones on an optional diet received unlimited chow and/or DC," the researchers wrote in their paper. "Also, the stressed rats on a restricted diet each received chow freely and only 4 g DC daily. Subsequently, the slope and amplitude of field excitatory postsynaptic potentials (fEPSPs) were assessed based on the Input-Output (I/O) curves and after the long-term potentiation (LTP)."

The researchers also measured the food intake and body weight of the rats they tested on at the beginning and end of their experiment. Interestingly, they found that all the dark chocolate dietary patterns reduced both the rats' food intake and their body weight. The strongest effects, however, were those caused by compulsory and restricted dietary patterns.

"The fEPSP slope and amplitude in the I/O curves and after LTP decreased significantly in the stress group compared to the control group," the researchers wrote in their paper. "Although the slope and amplitude both enhanced non-significantly in the optional DC diet, these parameters changed significantly in both compulsory and restricted DC dietary patterns compared to the stress group. Also, food intake and body weight decreased significantly in all DC groups."

Overall, the experiments carried out by this team of researchers suggest that the systematic consumption of dark chocolate could reverse the adverse effects of chronic isolation stress on the synaptic potency and plasticity of the hippocampal CA1 area. This would in turn have beneficial effects on both memory and learning.

As their study was carried out in rats, however, to be applicable to humans, their findings would need to be validated on a human sample of participants. If their results were confirmed in future studies involving humans, their work would offer evidence of the positive effects of cocoa on the brain and on cognitive abilities.

Explore further

Dark chocolate may do your heart good this Valentine's Day

More information: Elham Kalantarzadeh et al, The impact of different dark chocolate dietary patterns on synaptic potency and plasticity in the hippocampal CA1 area of the rats under chronic isolation stress, Nutritional Neuroscience (2022).

DOI: 10.1080/1028415X.2022.2088946

© 2022 Science X Network


TOPICS: Business/Economy; Food; Health/Medicine; Society
KEYWORDS: chocolate; chocolatehoax2; darkchocolate; food; health
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1 posted on 07/15/2022 1:17:21 PM PDT by Red Badger
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To: Red Badger
I love dark chocolate and I'm always skeptical of these kinds of studies thinking that the makers of dark chocolate funded them but if it's real, ok :) A hippocampus:
2 posted on 07/15/2022 1:25:53 PM PDT by Beowulf9
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To: Red Badger
Mmmmm..


3 posted on 07/15/2022 1:25:58 PM PDT by GaltAdonis
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To: GaltAdonis

eating dark chocolate on the brain

Is that an exotic French food?


4 posted on 07/15/2022 1:27:31 PM PDT by Scrambler Bob (My /s is more true than your /science (or you might mean /seance))
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To: Red Badger
Chocolate is good on a lot of things but I wouldn't eat on the brain.


5 posted on 07/15/2022 1:28:07 PM PDT by TigersEye (The Democrat Party is criminal, unAmerican and illegitimate )
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To: Red Badger

What if you eat dark chocolate on a plate?


6 posted on 07/15/2022 1:28:40 PM PDT by nickcarraway
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To: Red Badger

I LOVE dark chocolate. And since most other people don’t, I’m always getting gifted dark chocolate by other people at work or home who don’t want the ones they got in a box of assorted chocolates or a variety pack. Yum!.


7 posted on 07/15/2022 1:29:38 PM PDT by fidelis (Behold, the Cross of the Lord! Begone, all evil powers! The Lion of the tribe of Judah rules!)
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To: GaltAdonis

Yummy stuff, too


8 posted on 07/15/2022 1:31:32 PM PDT by GaltMeister (All that is necessary for the triumph of evil is that good men do nothing.)
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To: Red Badger
Just the news I've been hoping for...endless Chocolate!!!
9 posted on 07/15/2022 1:32:37 PM PDT by ontap
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To: Red Badger

For several years (since turning 80), I’ve consumed 1 small block of Lindt Dark 78% cocoa each day to keep the old prostate healthy...

Urologist who wielded the laser to drill a better channel through the old enlarged prostate when I was 80 recommended it...

Eight years later, it has worked great...


10 posted on 07/15/2022 1:54:35 PM PDT by SuperLuminal
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To: Red Badger
Dark chocolate may do your heart good this Valentine's Day

I could have skipped all the rest. This was literally the bottom line of the study.

11 posted on 07/15/2022 1:59:10 PM PDT by pfflier
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To: Red Badger
Eyeing a bar of 88% cocoa (Non-Dutched) and wondering what percentage of their body weight were the rats fed?

The bar says "Serving size = 1 oz"

12 posted on 07/15/2022 2:04:36 PM PDT by Chuckster (Friends don't let friends eat farmed fish)
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To: Red Badger

My Dad’s recipe, dark chocolate and red wine.
Lived to be almost 94 with little to no mental issues.


13 posted on 07/15/2022 2:14:15 PM PDT by 1066AD
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To: Red Badger

Maybe someone should tell hunter biden to cut his coke w/cocoa.


14 posted on 07/15/2022 2:14:59 PM PDT by fruser1
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To: Red Badger

Don’t they have headline editors anymore?


15 posted on 07/15/2022 2:26:32 PM PDT by Responsibility2nd (Fake News. Might be true; but designed to distort, mislead, brainwash and BS sheeple. )
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To: Scrambler Bob

I’m visualizing a Reese‘s peanut butter cup commercial here.

Two zombies talking…

“You got dark chocolate on my brain.”

“You got brain on my dark chocolate.”


16 posted on 07/15/2022 2:30:17 PM PDT by Responsibility2nd (Fake News. Might be true; but designed to distort, mislead, brainwash and BS sheeple. )
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To: GaltAdonis

What are the effects if you eat it on the sofa?


17 posted on 07/15/2022 2:40:22 PM PDT by FlingWingFlyer (First, they stole our elections. Then, they stole our country.)
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To: Red Badger

What percentage is the minimum to produce a benefit? I like 70-80% cocoa.


18 posted on 07/15/2022 4:14:39 PM PDT by muir_redwoods (Freedom isn't free, liberty isn't liberal and you'll never find anything Right on the Left)
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To: Red Badger
effects of eating dark chocolate on the brain

I prefer to eat mine sprinkled on vanilla ice cream.

19 posted on 07/15/2022 5:20:45 PM PDT by Albion Wilde (The “time out” generation didn’t produce as good a result as the @#$whoopin' generation. --Bob434)
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To: 1066AD
My Dad’s recipe, dark chocolate and red wine.

Yep, a time-honored classic combo. A small piece of dark chocolate left to melt on the tongue, followed by a sip of whiskey - that can be special as well. The chocolate sort of bonds with the evaporating ethanol, which carries the "flavor" all through your sinuses. Wine doesn't quite have enough alcohol in it to produce that effect. It truly has to be tried, mere description does not do the experience justice.

20 posted on 07/15/2022 5:55:48 PM PDT by Charles Martel (Progressives are the crab grass in the lawn of life.)
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