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Study finds dietary flavanols boost brain oxygenation and cognition in healthy adults

(Dietary flavanols can help you be smarter and avoid dementia – I understand that these titles can be confusing)

The consumption of flavanols, naturally occurring compounds found in plants, is associated with cognitive and cerebrovascular benefits in health adults, according to new research published in Scientific Reports. The study provides evidence that flavanol intake results in faster and greater brain oxygenation in response to the buildup of carbon dioxide in the bloodstream.

“For the last 10 to 12 years, I have been interested in the health benefits of plant-derived flavonoids, particularly their effects on brain and cognitive function,” said study author Catarina Rendeiro, a lecturer in nutritional sciences at the School of Sport, Exercise and Rehabilitation Sciences at the University of Birmingham.

“We have known for many years that flavanols from cocoa (in particular) can improve vascular function in humans by improving vessel/arterial function. These benefits are apparent even after one single dose. However, the extent to which some of these benefits could translate into the brain vasculature were less clear.”

Given that we have more and more people suffering from cognitive impairments and neurodegenerative diseases later in life (and we are for the most part living longer), it is critical that we make the lifestyle choices (exercise, diet) that can maximize protection of the brain and help delay the onset of cognitive dysfunction when we age,” Rendeiro explained.

For their study, which used a double-blind methodology, the researchers tested 18 healthy male participants in two separate trials, one in which the subjects received flavanol-rich cocoa and another during which they consumed processed cocoa with very low levels of flavanols. The flavanol-rich cocoa contained 150 mg of epicatechin and 35.5 mg of catechin, while the low-flavanol cocoa contained less than 4 mg of both flavanols.

The findings indicate that “consuming foods rich in flavanols, such as grapes, green tea, apples, berries and unprocessed cocoa powders can provide levels of flavanols that are beneficial for brain oxygenation and cognitive function,” Rendeiro told PsyPost.

“The fact that flavanols can be effective even in a healthy brain (where the physiology is working exactly as it should) is a remarkable finding and it means that we can potentially all benefit from diets rich in flavanols.”

Although the study examined flavanols from natural cocoa powders, ingesting chocolate would probably not produce the same effect.

“Many people tend to associate the benefits of cocoa with chocolate, but those are two very different things. The cocoas that contain flavanols are normally unprocessed. However, when you process cocoa beans to make chocolate (roasting, alkalization, etc.) the flavanol content declines,” Rendeiro explained.

“The good news is consuming a variety of foods rich in flavanols, such as grapes, green tea, apples, berries, pulses can provide levels of flavanols that are beneficial for brain and vascular function.”

The study, “Dietary flavanols improve cerebral cortical oxygenation and cognition in healthy adults“, was authored by Gabriele Gratton, Samuel R. Weaver, Claire V. Burley, Kathy A. Low, Edward L. Maclin, Paul W. Johns, Quang S. Pham, Samuel J. E. Lucas, Monica Fabiani, and Catarina Rendeiro.

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