Cocoa Powder > Health & Nutrition > Health > Cognition and MoodCognition and Mood
Consuming cocoa or chocolate has measureable effects on the brain. Several studies show that either the amount of blood or oxygen in the blood flowing through the brain is increased in individuals who consume cocoa (1,2,3). In addition, Montopoli et al. have demonstrated that the brain’s electrical activity is altered following the consumption of 40 g of dark chocolate (4). These changes in brain physiology may partially explain why cocoa and chocolate consumption is associated with improved mental focus. For example, Smith and Rich demonstrated that individuals who eat a 65 g filled chocolate bar (300 calories) prior to a simulated driving test perform better than those who don’t eat or who eat a non-chocolate 300 calorie snack before the test (5). While there have been conflicting reports on the effects of cocoa consumption on cognitive performance (1,6), recent studies have reported that subjects score higher on mental acuity tests following cocoa consumption compared to following the consumption of a placebo (3,7).
In addition to alternations in cognition, cocoa and chocolate may improve mood. There is much anecdotal evidence that chocolate makes people feel happy; however it is only recently that scientific studies have been performed to assess potential mood-altering effects of cocoa and chocolate. Human subjects with untreated depression consume almost twice as much chocolate than as those who are not depressed (8). The previous study was unable to determine if increased chocolate consumption occurs in response to depression, but recent studies demonstrating that chocolate stimulates neural activity in regions of the human brain associated with pleasure or reward (9) and that cocoa extracts have antidepressant-like effects in rodents (10) suggest that cocoa consumption can alleviate depressive symptoms.
Reference List
1. Francis ST, Head K, Morris PG, Macdonald IA. The effect of flavanol-rich cocoa on the fMRI response to a cognitive task in healthy young people. J Cardio Pharma 2006; 47: S215-20.
2. Sorond FA, Lipsitz LA, Hollenberg NK, Fisher NDL. Cerebral blood flow response to flavanol-rich cocoa in healthy elderly humans. Neuropsych Disease & Treat 2008; 4: 433-40.
3. Scholey AB, French SJ, Morris PJ, Kennedy DO, Milne AL, Haskell CF. Consumption of cocoa flavanols results in acute improvements in mood and cognitive performance during sustained mental effort. J Psychopharm 2010; 0: 0269881109106923v1.
4. Montopoli M, Stevens L, Smith C, Passino S, Brown S, Camou L, Carson K, Maaske S, Montopoli G, Knights K, Gibson W, Wu J. The acute electrocortical (EEG) and blood pressure effects of chocolate. submitted.
5. Smith AP, Rich N. Effects of consumption of snacks on simulated driving. Percept & Motor Skills 1998; 87: 817-18.
6. Crews WD Jr, Harrison DW, Wright JW. A double-blind, placebo-controlled,randomized trial of the effects of dark chocolate and cocoa on variables associated with neuropsychological functioning and cardiovascular health: clinical findings from a sample of healthy, cognitively intact older adults. Am J Clin Nutr 2008; 87: 872-80.
7. Yang QX. Personal communication.
8. Rose N, Koperski S, Golomb BA. Mood Food: Chocolate and depressive symptoms in a cross-sectional analysis. Arch Int Med 2010; 170: 699-03.
9. Horder J, Harmer CJ, Cowen PJ, McCabe C. Reduced neural response to reward following 7 days treatment with the cannabinoid CB1 antagonist rimonabant in healthy volunteers. Int J Neuropsychopharma 2010; 10.1017/S1461145710000453.
10. Messaoudi M, Bisson JF, Neidi A, Rozan P, Javelot H. Antidepressant-like effects of a cocoa polyphenolic extract in Wistar-Unilever rats. Nutr Neurosci 2008; 11: 269-76.