Remember where your car is parked — with chocolate?

Dr. Jain, M.D. — Wed, 02 Dec 2009 05:43:36 +0000

There is so much hype about chocolate, and for good reason. It makes most of us feel good, probably in part by liberating dopamine in the brain – the signal that indicates a pleasurable, or rewarding choice. Its caffeine helps us to wake up, and there is quite a bit of it. Chocolate is also packed with flavonoids: in particular, catechin and epicatechin, and dark chocolate has about four to five times as much of these nutrients as milk chocolate. An article in the Journal of Neuroscience by Fred Gage’s research group found that supplementing the diet of mice with epicatechin actually helped them to retain a memory longer. In the study, some mice were assigned a diet rich in epicatechin, and others a regular mouse diet. Both groups had to find their way around a water maze to a hidden platform. Both groups learned where the maze was at the same rate, but the mice fed epichatechin could make their way through the maze a week after training stopped, whereas the control mice couldn’t. This kind of reminds me of the quandary I get into after working in the hospital for 30 hours straight on an overnight shift — where is my car parked? Will chocolate help me find the way – I’ll let you know!

Do Flavonoids Slow Cognitive Decline?

Dr. Jain, M.D. — Wed, 25 Nov 2009 04:18:38 +0000

A Flavonoid Rich Meal -- with Tuna for Omega-3!

Flavonoids are compounds found in plants. Their functions include providing pigmentation — especially yellow, red and blue tones — and also protecting against the attacks of insects and microbes. Remarkably, they have numerous beneficial effects on the human body and mind as well. A recent study in the American Journal of Epidemiology (Letenneur et al. 2007) demonstrated that flavonoids may be beneficial for the brain. It measured cognitive decline in the elderly over ten years, and divided the subjects into three groups based on their estimated flavonoid intake. Interestingly, there was a significant negative correlation between flavonoid intake and rate of cognitive decline: those who ate the most flavonoid-rich foods had the lowest rates of cognitive decline, and vice versa. The USDA Database for the Flavonoid Content of Select Foods is probably the most comprehensive resource out there for determining the flavonoid content of the foods you eat. It’s technical, but well worth the effort to digest!

Brain Nutrition Facts » flavonoid

Remember where your car is parked — with chocolate?

Do Flavonoids Slow Cognitive Decline?