Over the past 4 years, I’ve eaten a lot of dark chocolate, and some of the world’s best bars have made their way through our kitchen. Amedei, Valrhona, Michel Cluizel, El Rey, Domori, Bonnat. The nice thing about chocolate is that it is a very affordable luxury. You can grab yourself the world’s finest bar for less than $20.

Besides tasting great, there’s been a bunch of research over the past couple years showing dark chocolate may actually have some health benefits. For example, studies have shown dark chocolate can lower the “bad” LDL cholesterol, as well as blood pressure in patients with hypertension. And for those interested in improving cognitive performance, please see an earlier Smartkit post about how dark chocolate can boost brain power by improving verbal and visual memory, as well as reaction time. What I haven’t really posted about yet, however, is chocolate’s ability to induce euphoria. All varieties can do it, but I believe dark chocolate does it best. The numerous feel-good chemicals include:

• theobromine (a stimulant)
• anandamide (marijuana like substances)
• phenethylamine (aka PEA, “love drug”)
• caffeine
• and cocoa flavanols

This brings me to CocoaVia, a new chocolate bar put out by the Mars Company that is just starting to become readily available.

What is special about CocoaVia? Out of all the bars I’ve ever eaten, I’m close to concluding it packs the greatest feel-good punch. Thought it was a fluke the first time I tried it, but after having eaten about 10 over the past few weeks, I’m basically convinced.

What is unique about CocoaVia’s composition? The thing that made me want to go out and give it a try is that it’s processed differently from normal chocolate. Under normal manufacturing conditions, almost all of the health-giving plant chemicals (flavanols) are stripped right out. The Mars Company has apparently spent a fortune trying to figure out a way to create chocolate that still retains all these healthy flavanols. In the last year or two, they’ve succeeded, and their top-secret, specially processed flavanol-rich chocolate is called CocoaPro.

And CocoaVia is the world’s first chocolate bar made with CocoaPro.

If any of you chocoholics out there give it a try, I’d be very curious to hear if you notice a similar effect. Please feel free to let me know in the comments section what you think.

A note of caution, though: I personally don’t think CocoaVia tastes very good. Additionally, I’ve noticed a few pimples and zits eating CocoaVia- something that also commonly occurs with other Mars chocolates like Dove and M&M’s.

If you really want all the brain and health benefits that chocolate flavanols confer, you may prefer to go straight to the raw cacao beans. Most health food stores now sell these chopped in the form of cacao nibs.

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A study which appears in the January issue of Neuropsychology indicates that a simple blood test- checking for uric acid levels- may help predict risk of cognitive impairment in older adults.

Patients with high-normal uric acid levels were found to have lower scores on tests of:

• mental processing speed
• verbal memory
• working memory

The question remains whether readily available drugs that reduce uric acid levels (i.e., allopurinol, probenecid, sulfinpyrazone) may benefit brain function in older adults with high uric acid levels.

Interestingly, a diet rich in purine rich foods is thought to elevate uric acid levels. Purine rich foods include animal meats- particularly beef, pork, and lamb. Shellfish is also thought to be a purine-rich food.

While researchers don’t fully understand the underlying pathophysiology that may explain the correlation between high uric acid levels and impaired brain power, nonetheless, it is known that high uric acid levels do correlate with several dementia risk factors such as:

• type 2 diabetes
• high blood pressure
• atherosclerosis

Article: “Serum Uric Acid and Cognitive Function in Community-Dwelling Older Adults,” David J. Schretlen, PhD, Anjeli B. Inscore, PsyD, H. A. Jinnah, MD, PhD, Vani Rao, MD, and Barry Gordon, MD, PhD, Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine, Godfrey D. Pearlson, MD, Johns Hopkins School of Medicine, Hartford Hospital/Institute of Living, and Yale University School of Medicine; Neuropsychology, Vol 21, No. 1

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Researchers at the UCLA Neuropsychiatric Institute found Gingko Biloba triggers significant improvement in verbal memory in subjects with age-associated memory impairment compared to placebo.

Many earlier studies with Ginkgo Biloba have produced conflicting results. According to this article, however, most previous studies involving Gingko lasted less than 3 months. The current study is felt to be rather unique because of its longer duration (6 months). The UCLA is also notable in that it tracked brain changes via PET scans.

Unfortunately, however, the study size was quite small (10 patients).
The dose utilized was 120mg of Ginkgo twice a day.

You may be interested in an earlier post which describes how Ginkgo Biloba was found to be as effective as one of the regular prescription drugs (Aricept) used to treat Alzheimer’s disease.

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