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Cocoa drink is very useful and delicious because it contains nutrients for human health.
A recent study revealed that drinking cocoa can lead to increased mental alertness thanks to the presence of flavonoids, which are chemicals abundant in cocoa beans.
And researchers from the United Kingdom and the United States found that healthy adults performed better on difficult cognitive tasks if participants drank cocoa drink that contained high levels of flavonoids, according to the British newspaper “Daily Mail.”
Flavonoids are antioxidants found abundantly in tea, berries, apples, pears, cherries, and peanuts, as well as the seeds of the cacao tree or cocoa beans.
Flavonoids are already known to have beneficial effects on cardiovascular health, but this new study is the first to discover the positive effect of flavonoids on brain blood vessel function and cognitive performance in healthy adults, the researchers say.
“Flavonoids are small molecules found in many fruits and vegetables, and also in cocoa,” said study author Katarina Rendero of the University of Birmingham in the UK.
“It gives fruits and vegetables their bright color and is known to benefit blood vessel function. We wanted to know if flavonoids also benefit the blood vessels in the brain and if they have a positive effect on cognitive function.
The team tested the participants before consuming flavonoid cocoa and in two separate experiments, one in which the subjects ate flavonoid-rich cocoa and the other in which they consumed processed cocoa with very low levels of flavonoids.
The researchers found that most of the participants had a stronger and faster response to oxygen in the brain after exposure to cocoa flavonoids compared to those who consumed cocoa, which lacked flavonoids.
“Peak oxygen levels were three times higher in flavanol-rich cocoa than in low-flavonoid cocoa, and the oxygen response was about a minute faster,” Rendero said.
After consuming cocoa in flavonoids, participants performed better on more difficult cognitive tests, solving problems 11 percent faster than they did initially or when consuming cocoa with fewer flavonoids.
Overall, the results indicate that improvements in vascular activity after exposure to flavonoids are associated with better cognitive function.
