Researchers link cocoa flavanols to improved brain blood flow

Researchers link cocoa flavanols to improved brain blood flow: "(August 18, 2008) – Cocoa flavanols, the unique compounds found naturally in cocoa, may increase blood flow to the brain...The researchers suggest that long-term improvements in brain blood flow could impact cognitive behavior, offering future potential for debilitating brain conditions including dementia and stroke...n a scientific study of healthy, older adults ages 59 to 83, Harvard medical scientists found that study participants who regularly drank a cocoa flavanol-rich beverage made using the Mars, Incorporated Cocoapro® process had an eight percent increase in brain blood flow after one week, and 10 percent increase after two weeks...The body of research not only suggests that cocoa flavanols may provide a dietary approach to maintaining cardiovascular function and health, but also points at new possibilities for cocoa flavanol-based interventions for vascular complications associated with cognitive performance, skin health and age-related blood vessel dysfunction..."

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Why Garlic Is Good for You

Why Garlic Is Good for You - WebMD
2007.10.15
"...red blood cells process compounds from digested garlic and turn them into the cell messenger hydrogen sulfide (H2S), which relaxes blood vessels and increases blood flow. Therefore, eating garlic may increase our natural supply of this vital chemical and play a role in reducing the risk of heart disease...Previous studies on garlic’s health effects have produced mixed results. For example, some studies of garlic have found few benefits, but others have been shown to lower the risk of heart disease...But researchers say if further studies confirm these findings, testing the ability to produce hydrogen sulfide may be used to standardize garlic supplements to produce greater health benefits..."

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Boosting Brain Power -- With Chocolate

Eating chocolate could help to sharpen up the mind ScienceDaily 2/22/07 "...and give a short-term boost to cognitive skills...A study led by Professor Ian Macdonald found that consumption of a cocoa drink rich in flavanols — a key ingredient of dark chocolate — boosts blood flow to key areas of the brain for two to three hours...Increased blood flow to these areas of the brain may help to increase performance in specific tasks and boost general alertness over a short period...The study also suggests that the cocoa flavanols found in chocolate could be useful in enhancing brain function for people fighting fatigue, sleep deprivation, and even the effects of ageing...The effect is linked to dilation of cerebral blood vessels, allowing more blood — and therefore more oxygen — to reach key areas of the brain...“Acute consumption of this particular flavanol-rich cocoa beverage was associated with increased grey matter flow for two to three hours. ..."

More on cocoa fighting fatigue

More on the health benefits of cocoa at BBC, NutraIngredients, Cornell, WebMD, WebMD, Newstarget,

Pubmed links

Does Flavanol Intake Influence Mortality from Nitric Oxide-Dependent Processes? Ischemic Heart Disease, Stroke, Diabetes Mellitus, and Cancer in Panama (full journal article with a good list of references at the end)

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