Life is sweet
This time next week I will be en route to Chicago to attend the NCA Sweets & Snacks Expo. It is many years since I last visited the US and it will be my first trip to Chicago. If you are going to be exhibiting or attending, do get in touch. I look forward to seeing you there.
In the meantime, as if any of us needed further proof about the benefits of chocolate, researchers from Arizona University have uncovered the natural attention-boosting powers of dark chocolate.
The study, which appeared in the journal NeuroRegulation, also reveals how a newly concocted chocolate recipe may help to lower blood pressure.
“Chocolate is indeed a stimulant and it activates the brain in a really special way,” says lead author Larry Stevens, a professor of psychological sciences at NAU. “It can increase brain characteristics of attention, and it also significantly affects blood pressure levels.”
Stevens and his team fed 122 participants dark chocolate with high cacao levels or a placebo, and watched their electroencephalography (EEG) results to measure brain activity. The participants, aged 18 to 25, were required to perform cognitive tasks to see if there was any improvement in those who ate the dark chocolate.
Not only did chocolate improve the attention spans of participants, but it also had the ability to bring peace to their brains and lower blood pressure, the researchers found.
The study may have funded by the Hershey Company, but I for one, think any research that suggests that an afternoon chocolate fix is doing you good in even more ways, cannot be a bad thing.
