A long-term study showed that chocolate improves brain function.

In the mid-70s, psychologist Merrill Elias (Merrill Elias) with a group of colleagues began to track the cognitive abilities of more than a thousand residents of New York State. The purpose of the Maine-Syracuse Longitudinal Study (MSLS) study was quite specific: to determine the relationship between blood pressure and brain function.

Data collection lasted for several decades, it included all new categories of data that may affect the cardiovascular system: obesity, smoking, etc. After 40 years, scientists decided to add questions about the diet. In the end, this factor also matters. Nobody thought that the research would lead to any discovery related to chocolate. But it turned out that way.

During the sixth wave of data collection from 2001 to 2006 (a total of seven waves were carried out, each for five years), scientists collected detailed information about the diet. And it turned out an interesting thing.

"We found that people who ate chocolate at least once a week, as a rule, show the best mental abilities," said Elias. “We are talking about a number of cognitive areas.”
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The results of the study were published in February 2016. The nutritionist Georgina Crichton from the University of South Australia assisted the researchers in their work.



Various studies have previously shown the positive effect of chocolate on health, but few have studied its effect on mental abilities. The long-term MSLS study on a sample of about 1000 people is the most large-scale and reliable research that shows a positive correlation between chocolate intake and mental abilities.

To confirm, the sample was normalized taking into account age, education, cardiovascular factors, etc. After that, the positive correlation between the intake of chocolate and some cognitive abilities is still preserved:

• visual-spatial memory
• visual scanning and tracking
• abstract thinking,
• brief scale for assessing mental status .

Crichton explains that these scientific terms correspond to everyday tasks a person faces, such as memorizing a phone number or shopping list, or the ability to do two things at the same time, such as driving a car and talking.

In such tests, the main problem is to establish a causal relationship. Maybe this is not chocolate that increases mental abilities, but on the contrary - stress on the brain leads to the reception of more chocolate?

To test this hypothesis, scientists conducted another test. They took a group of 300 people who took part in the first four waves of surveys, as well as in the sixth wave, when the diet was studied. If mental capacity influenced the consumption of chocolate, the results from the first four waves would allow to predict the increased consumption of chocolate in those people who showed the best test results. But this was not fixed.

“You cannot talk about causality, because it is almost impossible to prove in our format,” says Elias. - But we can talk about direction. Our research definitely shows the direction that non-cognitive abilities affect chocolate consumption, and chocolate consumption affects cognitive abilities. ”

Scientists are not yet ready to talk about the reasons for the positive effect of chocolate on the brain. Science only knows that cocoa and chocolate contain natural antioxidants called flavonoids . A 2011 study showed that flavonoids "have a positive effect on psychological processes," and a 2014 study that these substances "reduce some of the factors of age-related cognitive dysfunction."

Chocolate, like coffee and tea, also contains methylxanthines , which improve various functions of the body, including increased concentration. A number of scientific studies were conducted on this account, for example, in 2004 and 2005 .

Nutrition experts say they are aware of an immediate positive effect after taking chocolate. But never had long-term studies of long-term effect. Now this fact can be considered confirmed.