Analysis Version
v1
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causal
Analysis v1
Contested

Eating cocoa with flavanols might boost blood flow to a part of your brain that helps you form memories, like when you're trying to remember names or facts.

48
Pro
51
Against

Evidence from Studies

Supporting (2)

48

Community contributions welcome

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The effect of flavanol-rich cocoa on cerebral perfusion in healthy older adults during conscious resting state: a placebo controlled, crossover, acute trial

Randomized Controlled Trial
Human
2015 Sep

This study found that drinking a special cocoa drink with lots of flavanols made more blood flow to parts of the brain in older adults, which is exactly what the claim says cocoa flavanols do — even though it didn’t check the exact memory area called the dentate gyrus.

40

Enhancing dentate gyrus function with dietary flavanols improves cognition in older adults

Randomized Controlled Trial
Human
2014 Dec

Scientists gave older adults chocolate with lots of cocoa flavanols for 3 months and found their memory-related brain area worked better — which means the chocolate likely helped increase blood flow to that area.

Contradicting (1)

51

Community contributions welcome

51

Acute effects of cocoa flavanols on visual working memory: maintenance and updating

Randomized Controlled Trial
Human
2022 Apr

The study gave people cocoa powder and checked if they remembered things better, but it didn’t measure blood flow in the brain. Since the claim is about blood flow increasing in a memory area, and this study didn’t check that, we can’t say if the claim is true or false based on this study.

Gold Standard Evidence Needed

According to GRADE and EBM methodology, here is what ideal scientific evidence would look like to definitively prove or disprove this specific claim, ordered from strongest to weakest evidence.

Similar Assertions

Eating a specific amount of dark chocolate compounds can make more blood flow to your brain—even when you're just sitting still and not thinking hard—suggesting it might naturally help your blood vessels work better.

48
0
85%

Eating a chocolate drink with a lot of cocoa flavanols can make more blood flow to certain parts of the brain in people aged 50 to 65, and this effect shows up about two hours later—compared to a drink with very little cocoa.

48
0
84%

Eating a specific amount of cocoa flavanols doesn’t change blood flow in the brain unless you’re also consuming other flavanol-rich foods — even if the chocolate tastes and looks the same and has the same calories and stimulants.

0
48
83%

If you're between 50 and 69 and eat a daily dose of cocoa flavanols for three months, you might get better at remembering small differences between similar things—and your brain’s memory area might get more blood flow, helping fight off some of the memory slowdown that comes with aging.

40
0
83%

When older adults eat a specific amount of cocoa flavanols, blood flow in certain parts of their brain goes up—but only in those areas, and not because they just think it should work or because their body is reacting to anything else.

48
0
79%

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