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In case anyone needed another reason to love chocolate, a new study suggests that a natural compound found in cocoa, tea and some vegetables can reverse age-related memory loss. The findings suggest that the compound increases connectivity and, subsequently, blood flow in a region of the brain critical to memory, the researchers said. Researchers said that if a person had the memory of a typical 60-year-old at the beginning of the study, after three months, on average, that person’s memory would function more like a 30- or 40-year-old’s. The researchers also cautioned that more work is needed because of the...

Researchers from the University of East Anglia found that flavonoid-rich foods, like oranges and grapefruit, can help protect against strokes in women. This study was published in the journal, Stroke: Journal of the American Heart Association. In this study, the researchers followed 69,622 women for 14 years. The researchers monitored the protective nature of flavonoids, an antioxidant found in fruits, vegetables, dark chocolate and red wine. During the study, every four years, the women reported their fruit and vegetable intake. As a result, the researchers were able to look for relationships between flavonoid intake and the risk of ischemic, hemorrhagic...

Two recent studies suggest compounds in natural cocoa have significant health-giving properties. One study by Prof Norman K. Hollenberg from Harvard Medical School and Brigham and Women's Hospital in Boston, US was published in the International Journal of Medical Sciences. Hollenberg spent years studying the effects of cocoa-drinking on the Kuna people in Panama. He suggests that epicatechin, a flavanol found in high levels in natural cocoa, should be classed as a vitamin and is as important as penicillin and anaesthesia in terms of its potential to impact public health. Although only an observational study, Hollenberg's results from his work...