Islamabad - Eating dark chocolate in moderation may protect one’s brain from age-related stress and inflammation, a study said.

According to researchers, dark chocolate consumption is also linked to lowering hypertension. It comes packed with essential nutrients like iron, copper, magnesium, zinc, phosphorous and flavanols. Oxidative stress and inflammation increase with ageing and are thought to play an important role in the development of neuro degenerative diseases such as Alzheimer’s disease, health news reported.

“We previously reported on the beneficial effects of treatment with the cacao flavanol on ageing-induced oxidative stress and capacity to restore modulators of mitochondrial biogenesis in the prefrontal cortex of 26-month-old mice. In the current study, using a similar mouse model of ageing, we examined the capacity of Epi to mitigate hippocampus oxidative stress and inflammation leading to improved memory and anxiety levels”, researchers said.

In a study, researchers from the University of California San Diego in the US showed that the epicatechin (Epi), a flavanol found in foods such as dark chocolate, reduced damaging oxidative stress and neuro inflammation in a mouse model of ageing.

Just two weeks of treatment with epicatechin not only suppressed levels of oxidative stress and neuro inflammation that would normally be increased in this mouse model, but also improved memory and anxiety levels in the mice. The findings may help explain the beneficial effects on memory seen in people who consume dark chocolate, researchers said.

Stronger Muscles May Pump Up

Kids’ Memory Skills

Here’s yet another reason to make sure your kids are active: New research shows those with stronger muscles may have better working memory. Evaluating 79 children between the ages of 9 and 11, scientists said they found that muscle fitness was directly related to a more accurate memory. The results also reinforced established research linking kids’ aerobic fitness to better thinking skills and academic performance.

“There are multiple ways children can derive benefit from exercise ... to build healthy bodies as well as healthy minds,” said study co-author Charles Hillman. He’s a professor of psychology and health sciences at Northeastern University in Boston.

“We know that kids are becoming increasingly inactive, overweight and unfit,” Hillman added. “So, it’s important to take studies like these ... to basically indicate the benefit of physical activity and the importance of it.”

Only 1 in 3 children in the United States is physically active every day, according to the President’s Council on Fitness, Sports and Nutrition. One contributor is the 7.5 hours per day, on average, that children spend in front of a screen — whether it be TV, video games, computers or the like.

Children taking part in the study completed both aerobic fitness and muscular fitness assessments, including upper body, lower body and core exercises. Additionally, their working memory and academic achievement were measured by various tests.

Hillman and his colleagues found that participants with higher levels of aerobic fitness also scored higher on tests of memory and mathematics. But a new insight was gleaned with the finding that muscle fitness was directly linked to memory performance — though not academic performance.

Hillman emphasized that the muscle fitness tests used in the research resembled the kinds of activity kids take part in regularly — not lifting large weights.

“It wasn’t pure strength the way that running is pure cardio,” Hillman explained, “in the sense that they were doing high volume [repetitions] and low weights. Much was body movement, such as pushups and squats or lifting light medicine balls. We were trying to mimic the way kids would typically be active.”

Working memory in both boys and girls appeared to benefit equally from greater muscle fitness, he noted.

Hillman said scientists aren’t sure how greater muscle fitness would work to enhance memory. Drawing from the results of animal research, he theorized that muscle fitness could help connections develop between brain neurons.

Dr. Bradley Sandella, fellowship director for sports medicine at Christiana Care Health System in Wilmington, Del., said the new findings provided information he could use in his own practice.