Can Chocolate Make Your Brain Work Better?

What if eating dark chocolate made your brain work better? This might be true, thanks to flavanols! Cocoa beans are the main ingredient in chocolate. And they contain lots of flavanols.

What’s the difference between grey matter and white matter?

Volunteers in a research study drank a cocoa beverage high in flavanols. This increased blood flow to their grey matter. 

Grey matter is on the outside of your brain and the inside of your spinal cord. It controls movement, learning, memory, emotions and language. Grey matter processes information. Then it hands the results over to white matter. It’s found on the inside of your brain and the outside of your spinal cord. The white matter transmits the information to different parts of your body. 

So it’s not surprising that people with more grey matter have better cognitive function. In other words, they think better.

Grey matter needs a constant supply of oxygen to process information. Your brain uses about 20% of the oxygen in your blood. Since so much thinking goes on inside your grey matter, it uses a lot of that oxygen. In fact, grey matter consumes over 90% of the oxygen used by your brain!

Axons are thin extensions that transmit information between neurons. A myelin sheath covers the axons in white matter. Myelin is a fatty protein that insulates the axons. It also boosts the signals sent by the white matter to different parts of your body. 

Grey matter has a lot of neurons. But they’re unmyelinated. That means they’re not covered by myelin. Myelin has a high percentage of fat (70%) compared to proteins (30%). And it uses almost no oxygen. So to send signals, unmyelinated axons in your grey matter need more blood flow. And myelinated axons in your white matter need less blood flow.

How do flavionals affect the brain?

Researchers are looking for ways to increase oxygen supply to the brain. They have begun to focus on flavanols. That’s because flavanols contain methylxanthines. These chemicals help deliver oxygen to your grey matter. They dilate (open up) airways in your lungs. And they help relax constricted (tightened) blood vessels. This all helps blood pump more efficiently. And that means more oxygen can get to where it’s needed.

Researchers have linked foods rich in flavanols to more efficient blood flow. And more efficient blood flow can improve brain function. 

Participants in a 2017 study took 900 mg of flavanols every day for three months. The results of the study showed increased blood flow to the hippocampus. That's the part of the brain responsible for learning and memory. All that thinking also means the hippocampus has a lot of grey matter. The same study found that people who eat more flavanols are better at recognizing visual patterns. They’re also better at taking memory tests.

So should you go ahead and eat as much chocolate as you want? Sorry, but no! Not even the authors of these studies go that far. Cocoa loses most of its flavanols during the chocolate-making process. 

Did you know? 

Flavanols give unprocessed cocoa a very strong smell and taste. When making chocolate, cocoa beans are fermented, alkalized and roasted. These steps improve the flavour.

You need about 900 mg of flavanols a day to really boost your brain power. That means eating ten bars of dark chocolate every day! 

Milk chocolate has even less flavanols. It only has about 15 mg per bar. Most of the cocoa gets replaced by milk and sugar. 

But chocolate isn’t the only food with flavanols. Vegetables, legumes, tea and red wine all have small amounts. Fruits like oranges, berries, pomegranates and apples also contain traces of flavanols.

Did you know? 

Cocoa butter is a fat found in chocolate. It contains oleic acid. That’s the same “good” type of monounsaturated fat found in olive oil.

Studies showing the benefits of flavanols are a little controversial. Companies that make or sell chocolate have funded many of them.

But flavanols could still help prevent memory loss in older people. It could also improve brain function. This is exciting news. Countries around the world are having trouble caring for ageing populations. Researchers also hope to use flavanols to treat neurodegenerative diseases. Those are diseases like Parkinson’s and Alzheimer’s.

Even without the benefits of flavanols, chocolate is a rich and delicious treat. So don’t forget to add it to your list of yummy study snacks. It might just give your brain the boost it needs for those long study sessions!