Cocoa Flavanols Reverse Age-related Memory Decline | Hacker News Reader

Cocoa Flavanols Reverse Age-related Memory Decline

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Release from the institution that did the research: http://newsroom.cumc.columbia.edu/blog/2014/10/26/flavanols-...

TL;DR:

- "37 healthy volunteers"

- "cocoa flavanol-containing test drink prepared specifically for research purposes was produced by the food company Mars"

- "Most methods of processing cocoa remove many of the flavanols found in the raw plant"

- "The high-flavanol group also performed significantly better on the memory test. “If a participant had the memory of a typical 60-year-old at the beginning of the study, after three months that person on average had the memory of a typical 30- or 40-year-old,” "

- "The researchers point out that the product used in the study is not the same as chocolate, and they caution against an increase in chocolate consumption in an attempt to gain this effect."

Right, so the study is not that awesome. However...

> Most methods of processing cocoa remove many of the flavanols found in the raw plant

...I wonder if this is related to the so-called "Dutch process" or alkali processed chocolate?

You can buy non-dutch cocoa that contains more of the original ingredients of the beans.

Typical "science" for hire. Materials supplied by Mars inc. Flavonols in question largely killed by "Dutch process" used to make chocolate. And how much Cocoa is in cheap chocolate anyway?

It looks like this isn't about selling existing chocolate stuff. They're testing a new flavanol-laced drink.

Mars has a cocoa supplement business, too - CocoaVia [1].

[1] http://www.cocoavia.com/

Lots of non-dutched cocoa products are out there. However, after a brief look into the subject after reading this article I read that a lot of the beneficial compounds are removed in commercial chocolate products because they are associated with bitter flavors.

And agree that the study should not be considered without looking where the money came from, but at least they explicitly noted it was funded by Mars.

Fascinating findings!

Key point: "The researchers point out that the product used in the study is not the same as chocolate, and they caution against an increase in chocolate consumption in an attempt to gain this effect."

edit: hate to do this, but would love to know rationales for downvotes. I wanted to drop that comment out there in case people thought they could go out and eat a lot of dark chocolate to get the same benefits, which they should not (blood sugar and obesity are strongly linked to cognitive decline). Dietary consumption of the flavanols is not the same thing. Maybe I should have just written that out, but I thought it was pretty self-explanatory for an educated crowd.

edit 2: no need to upvote, I'm not trolling for those (edit #1 was a bit more about general curiosity and mild peevishness) :) And thank you @HCIdivision17, for the feedback. I see the future for that in ingredients (drinks with green coffee/tea extracts) and supplements (like some plant phenol products (resveratrol, pterostilbene)

I can't help but think your bio entry says it all (explicit's better than implicit, too ;).

But I have to agree: it's interesting stuff and may spur different cocoa formulas in the future. I don't really know anything about flavinols, so I'll be doing a bit of reading about it now.

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