CHOCOLATE MAY BOOST BRAIN POWER/ Coffee's effects revealed in brain scans

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Pity about all the pesticides, plus cocoa has 10 times as much ash as other foods, which can dirty the blood and cause boils etc. N

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CHOCOLATE MAY BOOST BRAIN POWER

Posted By: Dosha <Send E-Mail>Saturday, 27 May 2006, 10:09 a.m.

 

Hello Milk Chocolate, here I come. Be Well - Dosha ___________

Chocolate may boost brain power Wed May 24, 2006 7:35 PM BST6

By Megan Rauscher

NEW YORK (Reuters Health) - Chocolate lovers rejoice. A new study hints that eating milk chocolate may boost brain function.

"Chocolate contains many substances that act as stimulants, such as theobromine, phenethylamine, and caffeine," Dr. Bryan Raudenbush from Wheeling Jesuit University in West Virginia noted in comments to Reuters Health.

"These substances by themselves have previously been found to increase alertness and attention and what we have found is that by consuming chocolate you can get the stimulating effects, which then lead to increased mental performance."

To study the effects of various chocolate types on brain power, Raudenbush and colleagues had a group of volunteers consume, on four separate occasions, 85 grams of milk chocolate; 85 grams of dark chocolate; 85 grams of carob; and nothing (the control condition).

After a 15-minute digestive period, participants completed a variety of computer-based neuropsychological tests designed to assess cognitive performance including memory, attention span, reaction time, and problem solving.

"Composite scores for verbal and visual memory were significantly higher for milk chocolate than the other conditions," Raudenbush told Reuters Health. And consumption of milk and dark chocolate was associated with improved impulse control and reaction time. ... END SNIP ___________

http://today.reuters.co.uk/news/newsArticle.aspx?type=h

 

Coffee's effects revealed in brain scans 01 December 2005 NewScientist.com news service Gaia Vince

Coffee improves short-term memory and speeds up reaction times by acting on the brain’s prefrontal cortex, according to a new study. Researchers used functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) to determine how coffee activates different areas of the brain in 15 volunteers. “Caffeine modulates a higher brain function through its effects on distinct areas of the brain,” explains Florian Koppelstätter, who carried out the research with colleagues at the Medical University at Innsbruck, Austria. Prior to testing, the group fasted for 4 to 6 hours, and abstained from caffeine and nicotine for at least 24 hours. Then they were then given either a cup of strong coffee – containing 100 milligrams of caffeine – or a caffeine-free placebo drink. After 20 minutes all participants underwent fMRI scans while carrying out a memory and concentration test. A few days afterwards the experiment was repeated under the same conditions but each received the other drink. Executive memory During the memory tests, participants were shown a fast sequence of capital letters, then flashed a single letter on a screen and told to decide quickly whether this letter was the same as the one which appeared second-to-last in the earlier sequence. They had to respond by pressing a “Y” for yes or “N” for no. “The group all showed activation of the working memory part of the brain," Koppelstätter explains. "But those who received caffeine had significantly greater activation in parts of the prefrontal lobe, known as the anterior cingulate and the anterior cingulate gyrus. These areas are involved in 'executive memory', attention, concentration, planning and monitoring." “This type of memory is used when, for example, you look up a telephone number in a book and then mentally store it before dialling,” he adds. Pick-me-up Koppelstätter stresses that the study is preliminary and that he has yet to discover how long the memory effects last or what other effects coffee has on brain function. He adds that the long-term impact of caffeine use is also an important consideration. But he says the study shows that coffee has an effect on specific brain regions involved in memory and concentration that tallies with anecdotal evidence of the drink's “pick-me-up” effect. ... end snip ___________

http://www.newscientist.com/article.ns?id=dn8401