Chocolate helps enhance memory in the elderly

Drinking two cups of chocolate a day can help improve thinking and memory ability in the elderly.

The author of Farzaneh A.Sorond research at Harvard Medical School in Boston, USA, said he and his colleagues studied the impact of blood flow in the brain on thinking ability. Some areas of the brain need more energy to function and need more blood flow.

A cup of chocolate.(Photo: Reuters)

"This relationship is called neurovascular neural coupling , it plays an important role in memory-related diseases like Alzheimer's disease , " A.Sorond said.

The study performed on 60 people at an average age of 73, and no one had dementia. They drink two cups of chocolate regularly every day for a month. After that, participants were evaluated by the science team through memory tests and thinking skills. During the test, blood flow to the brain is measured and recorded.

As a result, blood flow to the brain increased by 8.3%, time for memory tests improved markedly, from 167 seconds to 116 seconds. The results are published in the journal Neurology.

Previous research has shown that a compound in chocolate called flavanol increases learning ability by protecting nerve cells from injury, improving metabolism and increasing blood flow to the brain.