By RYAN JASLOW / CBS NEWS/ August 7, 2013, 4:05 PM
Memory loss and dementia are major fears for aging adults, but a new
study suggests a sweet way to stave off those brain woes: Drinking hot cocoa
daily.
Researchers are reporting in the Aug. 7 issue of Neurology that seniors
who drank two cups of hot cocoa a day for one month performed better on
thinking and memory tests than those who didn't. Brain imaging also showed
cocoa-drinkers had better blood flow in the brain.
The study's authors say their research reflects a growing body of
evidence that blood flow in the brain impacts thinking and memory.
"As different areas of the brain need more energy to complete
their tasks, they also need greater blood flow," study author Dr. Farzaneh
Aghdassi Sorond, an associate neurologist at Harvard Medical School and Brigham
and Women's Hospital in Boston, said in a statement. "This relationship,
called neurovascular coupling, may play an important role in diseases such as
Alzheimer's."
In the United States, more than 5.2 million people have Alzheimer's or
some other form of dementia. That number is expected to climb to 13.8 million
by 2050, a March report from the Alzheimer's Association found.
Sorond and her colleagues enlisted 60 dementia-free people -- average
age 73 --and told them to drink two cups of hot cocoa daily for 30 days, but
not consume any other chocolate throughout the study.
Eighteen of the subjects had impaired blood flow when the study began.
MRI scans revealed they were more likely to have tiny areas of brain damage
than those with normal blood flow.
After drinking hot cocoa for a month, Doppler brain scans revealed
subjects with blood flow problems saw more than an 8 percent boost in their
brain's blood circulation to working areas of the brain. They also improved
their times on memory tests, with their average scores dropping by more than 50
seconds at the end of the study.
People who had normal blood flow at the start of the study, however,
did not see these benefits.
Previous research suggests chocolate can carry vascular health
benefits. Studies have linked consuming chocolate -- often dark -- to reduced
blood pressure, lower risk for stroke, better cholesterol levels and even
benefits in people with mild cognitive impairment (MCI), a condition in which
people have difficulties with memory and are at raised risk for dementia and
Alzheimer's.
One study even linked chocolate consumption to increased odds of
winning the Nobel Prize, suggesting cocoa's brain-boosting abilities.
These studies have pointed to flavonols, antioxidant compounds found in
cocoa that improve blood flow. Darker chocolates are heavier in the compounds.
In the new study, however, the researchers randomized cocoa drinkers to
receive either flavanol-rich or flavanol-poor brews and found no difference
between the two groups for any of the findings. That suggests the person's
vascular state, more so than the type of cocoa they drank, was tied to the
memory and thinking benefits.
"Though more work is needed to prove a definitive causative link
among cocoa consumption, vascular pathology, and cognitive decline, the present
study is a remarkable first step," wrote researchers Dr. Paul B. Rosenberg
of Johns Hopkins Medicine and Can Ozan Tan of Harvard in an accompanying
commentary published in the same journal issue.
The study showed that neurovascular coupling can be easily measured
with existing technology, and that it adds more evidence to the link of blood
flow and memory functions, they wrote. But, more work is needed to prove a link
between cocoa, blood flow problems and memory declines.
"I look at this as a very interesting, preliminary study,"
Dr. Alexander Duart Rae-Grant, acting director of the Lou Ruvo Center for Brain
Health at the Cleveland Clinic, told CBSNews.com. "We're recognizing more
and more in the field that there's an important vascular component to dementia
and cognitive impairment."
He agreed with the commentary's authors that the research provides
evidence that these study methods can be used to look at blood vessel changes
in the brain and test other interventions to improve brain blood flow, such as
new medications or exercise.
Rae-Grant also pointed out there's more evidence-backed ways to reduce
risk for cognitive decline and dementia, including engaging in physical
activity, getting enough sleep, reading, doing social activities and eating
healthy.
"I wouldn't have people running off to get cocoa now," he
said.
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