A recent randomised clinical trial indicated that there were very slight gains in cognitive function in older persons who took a daily supplement containing cocoa extract for two years.
However, the gains were limited to individuals whose diet quality was lower at the beginning of the trial. Healthy eating habits did not produce a comparable improvement in cognitive function.
Encourage older persons with poorer food quality to consider using flavours-rich meals or supplements to improve their cognitive performance.
The study was conducted by researchers from Harvard Medical School and Brigham and Women’s Hospital, and it was published in The American Journal of Clinical Nutrition on December 7.
Benefits of cocoa extract for those with lower quality diet
As a component of the broader Cocoa Supplement and Multivitamin Outcomes trial (COSMOS), the new trial comprised 573 older men and women who were randomised to receive either an inactive placebo or daily doses of cocoa extract for a two-year period.
The participants were almost half female and 70 years old on average. Furthermore, 11% of participants said they consumed chocolate every day before to the trial’s commencement.
The participants in the cocoa extract group were given two capsules each day, totaling 500 mg of cocoa flavours, of which 80 mg were epicatechin.
flavours, or flavours-3-ols, are a subclass of flavonoids, which are plant-based chemicals. flavours can be found in berries, apples, grapes, teas, and items made with cocoa.
When they were first enrolled in the study, participants took cognitive testing; 492 of them underwent the assessment again two years later.
The group’s overall cognitive function was unaffected by daily cocoa extract supplementation, according to data that the researchers looked at.
However, those receiving daily supplements of cocoa showed comparatively superior improvements in overall cognition and executive function when compared to those whose diets were of lesser quality at the beginning of the trial.
A collection of mental abilities known as executive function is required for behaviour management and self-control.
The outcomes support a previous study conducted on COSMOS participants, which discovered that daily use of flavours enhanced a certain kind of memory in older persons with poorer diet quality.
It is in contrast to another COSMOS study (Trusted Source), which discovered that while cocoa extract had no effect on general cognition, taking a daily multivitamin/mineral supplement did. However, the study did not examine those with lower quality diets in isolation.
The food business Mars, through its subsidiary Mars Edge, and Pfizer Consumer Healthcare (now Haleon) provided funding and other support for the new study. Neither business participated in the data analysis, result interpretation, or study paper preparation.
Too early to recommend cocoa extract
More research is required, even if the study suggests that cocoa additional supplements may improve cognition in those with poorer food quality.
Our findings do not support the recommendation of using cocoa extract supplements on a daily basis to maintain cognitive function.
However, our results highlight the importance of accounting for nutrition and food in upcoming studies evaluating the effects of supplements containing cocoa extract on cognition.
In addition to concentrating particularly on individuals with poorer nutrition quality, he would like to see more varied populations included in future research.
The current study is noteworthy, according to the Division of Digestive Diseases and Nutrition at RUSH University in Chicago, because it concentrated on a dietary ingredient containing highly particular flavours.
He compares this to research on the total dietary intake of another kind of flavonoid, flavours, which he co-authored.
He and his colleagues evaluated the patients’ flavonoid intake in the study, which was published in 2020 in NeurologyTrusted Source, by carefully examining the foods they consumed, including foods high in flavours like kale, spinach, tomatoes, olive oil, beans, and tea.
The findings of that indicated a lower risk of Alzheimer’s disease development in those who ate more foods high in flavours.