Yet more research is
highlighting the potential benefits of eating dark chocolate. This time it
concerns attention and alertness. Could dark chocolate help to keep you focused
during the sleepy post-lunch phase?
The research was carried
out in the USA, led by Professor Larry Stevens at Northern Arizona University.
The team recruited 122 volunteers aged between 18 and 25 years old. Some were
given 1g of dark chocolate (60%) for each kg of their body weight whilst others
were given a placebo. Carrying out various thinking and memory tasks
afterwards, those who ate the 60% cacao chocolate were more alert and attentive
compared to those who ate the placebo.
The only negative point
appears to be that the 60% dark chocolate also raised the blood pressure of
those that consumed it and so there is also experimentation in adding
L-theanine (an amino acid found in green tea that acts as a relaxant) to the
recipe.
Could it be that we’re
going to see further developments in the creation of healthy chocolate brands?
This is certainly an interesting development in research surrounding the
potential health benefits of dark chocolate.
Be aware that eating
Cadbury Dairy Milk or a Mars Bar will not yield the same results! Eating too
much chocolate is probably not a good thing either. It is only dark chocolate with a
minimum of 60% cacao that might have this most useful effect. I’d swap caffeine
for chocolate any day!
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