Cocoa can help reverse memory loss

Flavanols, bioactive ingredients found in cocoa were found to sharply reverse age-related memory decline, scientists reported. Tests were conducted on 37 healthy volunteers aged 50-69 who were given a special-prepared cocoa drink with either a high or low dosage of flavanols. The high dosage group recorded major memory improvements and an increase in blood flow to the dentate gyrus which controls a type of memory. “If a participant had the memory of a typical 60-year-old at the beginning of the study, after 3 months that person on average had the memory of a typical 30- or 40-year-old,” Scott Small, a neurology professor at Columbia University Medical Center in New York, said.

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