Nutraceutical: Cocoa flavonols
 
Indication: Vision and cognitive function
 
Source: Physiol Behav, June 2011;103(3):255-60.
 
Research: Researchers set out to test the hypothesis that cocoa flavonols could improve visual and cognitive function. As such, they recruited 30 young adults between the ages of 18 and 25 years who consumed a specified amount of both white and dark chocolate with a one week interval between testing sessions.
 
Results: Those who consumed dark chocolate, which contained 720 mg of cocoa flavonols, showed marked improvement in visual contrast sensitivity and reduced the time required to detect motion direction. The cocoa flavonols also enhanced cognitive function by improving spatial memory and performance on some aspects of the choice reaction time task. When the participants consumed white chocolate, no significant benefits to visual or cognitive function were observed. This led researchers to conclude that cocoa flavonols found in dark chocolate appear to increase both visual and cognitive function in young adults. Since this study only focused on younger adults, a new study is underway to determine if these findings can be replicated in older adults.