Some Cocoa May Improve Brain Blood Flow
 

Guess I will continue to eat a small amount of that organic dark chocolate I get!

Some Cocoa May Improve Brain Blood Flow
By RANDOLPH E. SCHMID
AP
SAN FRANCISCO (Feb. 18) - A nice cup of the right kind of cocoa could hold the promise of promoting brain function as people age.

In an increasingly aging world, medical researchers are seeing more cases of dementia and are looking for ways to make brains work better.

One potential source of help may be flavanols, an antioxidant found in cocoa beans that can increase blood flow to the brain, researchers said Sunday at the annual meeting of the American Association for the Advancement of Science.

Ian MacDonald of England's University of Nottingham reported on tests given to young women who were asked to do a complex task while their brains were being studied with magnetic resonance imaging.

Among the women given drinks of cocoa high in flavanols, there was a significant increase in blood flow to the brain compared with subjects who did not drink the cocoa, he said.

This raises the prospect of using flavanols in the treatment of dementia, marked by decreased blood flow in the brain, and in maintaining overall cardiovascular health, he said.

The next step, MacDonald said, is to move from healthy subjects to people who have "compromised" blood flow to the brain.

Norman Hollenberg of Harvard Medical School said he found similar health benefits in the Cuna Indian tribe in Panama. They drink cocoa exclusively.

But the cocoa typically sold in markets is low in flavanols, which usually are removed because they impart a bitter taste, Hollenberg said. He also said the findings do not mean people should indulge in chocolate.

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http://health.aol.com/news/story/_a/...990007?cid=474

The Mars chocolate manufacturing company has in the past sponsered a few small clinical trials using their specially processed cocoa to demonstrate increased peripheral blood flow such as this one:

http://www.jacn.org/cgi/content/full...urcetype=HWCIT
Flavonoid-Rich Dark Chocolate Improves Endothelial Function and Increases Plasma Epicatechin Concentrations in Healthy Adults

There is always some risk of bias in trials sponsered by the "drug" supplier but assuming the results are fairly reported, potential users should be stick to the product used in trials as regular chocolate may have opposite side effects on blood circulation according to an MD I queried in the past.