Cocoa Compounds Enhance Brain Region Involved in Memory

The dentate gyrus is a region in the brain’s hippocampus whose function declines in association with human aging and is therefore considered to be a possible source of age-related memory decline.  Adam M. Brickman, from Columbia University Medical Center (New York, USA), and colleagues enrolled 37 healthy men and women, ages 50 to 69 years, who were randomized to receive either a high-flavanol diet (900 mg of flavanols a day, including a flavanol-rich cocoa drink) or a low-flavanol diet (10 mg of flavanols a day) for three months. Brain imaging and memory tests were administered to each participant before and after the study. The brain imaging measured blood volume in the dentate gyrus, a measure of metabolism, and the memory test involved a 20-minute pattern-recognition exercise designed to evaluate a type of memory controlled by the dentate gyrus. The researchers observed noticeable improvements in the function of the dentate gyrus in those who consumed the high-cocoa-flavanol drink.  The study authors conclude that: “A high-flavanol intervention was found to enhance [dentate gyrus] function, as measured by fMRI and by cognitive testing. Our findings establish that [dentate gyrus] dysfunction is a driver of age-related cognitive decline and suggest non-pharmacological means for its amelioration.”