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A large-scale study is the first to establish that a diet low in flavanols—nutrients found in certain fruits and vegetables—drives age-related memory loss. The study found that replenishing these bioactive dietary components in mildly flavanol-deficient adults over age 60 improves performance on these tests. The current study builds on over 15 years of research linking age-related memory loss to changes in the dentate gyrus, showing that flavanols improved function in this brain region. Additional research found that flavanols—particularly a bioactive substance in flavanols called epicatechin—improved memory by enhancing the growth of neurons and blood vessels and in the hippocampus. Next,...

Two recent studies suggest compounds in natural cocoa have significant health-giving properties. One study by Prof Norman K. Hollenberg from Harvard Medical School and Brigham and Women's Hospital in Boston, US was published in the International Journal of Medical Sciences. Hollenberg spent years studying the effects of cocoa-drinking on the Kuna people in Panama. He suggests that epicatechin, a flavanol found in high levels in natural cocoa, should be classed as a vitamin and is as important as penicillin and anaesthesia in terms of its potential to impact public health. Although only an observational study, Hollenberg's results from his work...