—since so much of what’s good for the heart is also good for the brain.

The news keeps getting sweeter about dark chocolate and other cocoa products. Since we last reviewed the research, several studies have further highlighted its potential for bettering cardiovascular health—by improving arterial function, for instance, which can help lower blood pressure. The latest research finds that cocoa can also aid the brain. Chocolate’s health benefits are largely attributed to compounds called flavonoids—related to those in tea, red wine, grape juice and many other plant foods. The new study, done by Italian researchers and published in Hypertension, involved 90 people over 65 with mild cognitive impairment (MCI). This condition causes memory problems more serious than those seen with normal aging, but less severe than those of dementia. It’s estimated that 20 percent of people over 70 have MCI and that 5 percent of those with MCI progress to dementia each year. Every day the subjects drank a cocoa beverage, which contained either high, intermediate or low levels of flavanols (a key subclass of flavonoids). Their diets were controlled to eliminate other sources of flavanols. After eight weeks, the high-flavanol group did better on a series of memory, verbal fluency and other cognition tests, followed by the intermediate-flavanol group. Their blood pressure, blood sugar control and oxidative stress levels also improved. TURNING PEOPLE INTO EXTRAORDINARY MILLIONAIRE ! http://ofwa1.blogspot.com/2017/03/turning-people-into-extraordinary.html