“A new study and clinical trial by scientists at Columbia University Medical Center has shown that in healthy human adults, a diet of cocoa that is rich in flavanols is able to reverse the effects of age-related memory decline. Imaging reveals one region of the brain that is responsible for the improvement in cognition. The study is one of the first to show that dietary modification results in startling brain function improvement upon targeting of one specific brain region. Cognition tests reveal significant improvements in memory recall and reaction times, to the extent that performance of older people resembled that of younger. Neurology Professor and practicing physician Scott Small, senior author of the study, is quoted as saying, “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.” Previous studies have shown that age-related memory decline starts in early adulthood but has little impact on quality of life until the sixth and seventh decades. Detailed examination of different parts of the brain has also revealed that one region, the dentate gyrus, is associated with age-related memory decline. The dentate gyrus plays a role in memory formation, spontaneous exploration of novel environments, among other functions. But prior to the Columbia study, evidence has largely been correlative rather than causative. Because flavanol compounds extracted from cocoa beans had at one time been shown to neural connectivity in the dentate gyrus of a mouse model, Professor Small chose dietary cocoa as a means to test whether he could causally modulate the performance of the dentate gyrus in humans.”
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