If you want to find another reason why you can and should eat chocolate, then please: as the results of one study showed, flavanol, which is one of the main components of cocoa, can help older people restore age-related memory loss. At the initiative of scientists at the Medical Center at Columbia University, studies were conducted, the results of which were published in the journal Nature Neuroscience, reports the Medical Daily.

Age-related memory loss should not be confused with senility and, especially, with Alzheimer's. Senile memory loss occurs in 40% of people over 65. And the older the person, the more frustration it becomes.. A person begins to forget the details of a conversation that took place recently, forgets the names of acquaintances. And in the case of senile dementia, such brain disorders are observed, because of which the circumstances of events that occurred recently are forgotten, even the names of family members are forgotten.

Age-related memory loss is associated with damage to the hippocampus, the area of \u200b\u200bthe brain that is responsible for storing short-term memories.. Scientists have found that it can be restored using flavanol.

Flavanol in its natural form can be found in some vegetables and fruits.. In addition, green tea is also rich in the content of this compound.. Although it has long been known about the beneficial properties of this drink, in particular, its ability to restore brain function, only recent studies have shown that it can restore the neural connections of the dentate gyrus of the hippocampus.

However, this does not mean that enjoying a cup of warm chocolate, you can get rid of the problem of memory loss, since cocoa grains lose most of the flavanol during processing. As part of the study, the company Mars, which is engaged in the production of chocolate, offered scientists a prototype drink, with a flavanol content of 900 mg and 10 mg.

The effect of the drink was studied for three consecutive months on 30 healthy volunteers aged 50-69, who were divided into two groups. The results of medical studies that were carried out before and after the experiment shocked scientists.

“Significant progress in the neural connections of the dentate gyrus of the hippocampus is observed in volunteers who took a drink with a high content of flavanol,” said Adam Brickman, senior co-author of the study.

In particular, in one of the volunteers, after the end of the study, the memory recovered to the level of a 30-40 year old person, and before the study it was estimated as in a person aged 60 years. And yet, scientists once again warn that chocolate cannot be used to restore memory, since the content of flavanol in it is small. Instead, it is advised to maintain an appropriate level of physical activity.. Previous studies have shown a correlation between physical activity and the effectiveness of neural connections in the dentate gyrus of the hippocampus.

aspekty. net.