Cocoa Flavanols Might Offer Mental Benefits

A special cocoa made to retain flavanols may have the potential to help maintain healthy brain function, among other possible benefits, according to a presentation from the recent annual meeting of the American Association for the Advancement of Science (AAAS).

Studies have suggested that consumption of a special flavanol-rich cocoa may improve blood vessel function. Current research shows that these potential blood-flow benefits might extend to the brain, which could have important implications for learning and memory.

This research is impressive in that multiple laboratories are coming to the same conclusion about this flavanol-rich cocoa, and the findings give us completely new insights into how this flavanol-rich cocoa may impact health in a variety of ways not previously known, said symposium organizer Harold H. Schmitz, Ph.D., chief science officer, Mars, Inc. The findings raise the possibility that products utilizing this cocoa could be developed to help maintain healthy brain function throughout several life stages. More research examining the potential of this cocoa in this important area of public health need is clearly warranted. Mars also supplied the specially formulated flavanol-rich cocoa beverage used in the studies.

One study, conducted by Ian A. Macdonald, Ph.D. of the Institute of Clinical Research and Director of Research for Faculty of Medicine and Health Sciences, University of Nottingham Medical School, England, found that the consumption of this cocoa resulted in regional changes in blood flow in study participants, suggesting that cocoa flavanols may have therapeutic potential for the treatment of vascular impairments within the brain itself. Our study showed that acute consumption of this particular flavanol-rich cocoa beverage was associated with increased blood flow to grey matter for two to three hours, he said. This raises the possibility that certain food components like cocoa flavanols may be beneficial in increasing brain blood flow and enhancing brain function among older adults or for others in situations where they may be cognitively impaired, such as fatigue or sleep deprivation.

Dr. Norman K. Hollenberg of the Harvard Medical School and Brigham and Womens Hospital, Boston, presented new findings based on his ongoing work with the Kuna Indians of Panama, heavy, daily consumers of a type of cocoa rich in flavanols. His latest findings, recently published in the International Journal of Medical Sciences (see http://www.medsci.org/v04p0053), used death certificates to compare cause-specific deaths of island-dwelling Kuna to those living on mainland Panama who do not drink the flavanol-rich cocoa so prominent on the islands. He and his colleagues found the Kuna Indians living on the islands had significantly lower rates of heart disease and cancer compared to those on the mainland. The relative risk of death from heart disease on the Panama mainland was 1,280% higher than on the islands; risk of death from cancer was 630% higher.

In his AAAS presentation, Hollenberg suggested that the same mechanism resulting in improved blood-vessel function that he and others have observed following consumption of the special cocoa could also be responsible for the enhanced brain blood flow. Specifically, Hollenberg and others have observed that these improvements are paralleled by an increase in the circulating pool of nitric oxide, a critical molecule in the circulatory system that helps dilate blood vessels and keeps them pliable.

In one study, Hollenberg fed flavanol-rich cocoa to healthy volunteers over age 50 and observed a striking blood-flow response that evolved over several weeks. Since this cocoa preparation is so well tolerated, it raises hope that the brain blood flow response it stimulates can result in maintenance of healthy brain function and cognition, which is an issue that, unfortunately, plagues many older adults today, he said.