巧克力對大腦有好處大綱

If you were looking for an excuse to start your day with a bowl of Cocoa Krispies topped with chocolate milk, science has your back. A study published recently in Frontiers in Nutrition looked at the effects of cocoa and cocoa-derived food (read: chocolate) and found that they have "the potential to counteract cognitive decline and sustain cognitive abilities."

如果你在找一個理由使你可以每天吃一碗淋了巧克力牛奶的可可亞脆米花，科學可以做你的後盾。最近，營養學術前沿系列期刊發表了一篇關於可可粉和可可類食品（也就是巧克力）功效的研究報告，該研究發現它們有“抵制認知能力衰退以及維持認知能力的潛能。”

The secret lies in flavanols, a class of natural compounds that has "neuroprotective effects" (meaning, it's good for your brain), and chocolate happens to be filled with the stuff. The study's authors, Valentina Socci and Michele Ferrara from the University of L'Aquila in Italy, found that participants showed improvements in memory and were better able to process visual information after having cocoa flavanols. The study also showed that, for women at least, cocoa actually counteracted the cognitive impairment that comes with sleep deprivation.

這種功效的奧祕就在於黃烷醇，一種起“神經保護作用”（意思就是它對你的大腦有好處）的天然化合物，而巧克力恰好富含這種物質。這份研究報告的作者是來自意大利阿布魯佐大學的瓦倫蒂娜·索奇和米歇爾·費拉拉，他們發現，研究參與者的記憶力有所改善，而且在攝入可可黃烷醇之後，他們能夠更好地處理可視信息。這項研究還發現，至少對婦女來說，可可粉確實可以消減因睡眠不足而造成的認知損害。

This isn't just good news for college kids pulling all-nighters, though. In fact, the effects of cocoa flavanols were more easily seen in older populations, and particularly those who had already started to lose memory or suffered from other mild cognitive impairments. Long-term ingestion of cocoa flavanols (ranging from 5 days up to 3 months) improved attention, processing speed, working memory, and verbal fluency. So maybe get your grandma an extra Whitman's Sampler the next time you see her.

這不僅僅是大學生們的喜訊，也是所有夜貓黨的福音。事實上，可可黃烷醇的功效更容易在老年人羣身上體現出來，特別是那些已經開始喪失記憶，或遭受其他輕度認知功能損害的人羣。長期攝入可可黃烷醇（從5天到3個月）可以提高注意力、信息處理速度、工作記憶力以及語言流暢度。所以下次去看望外婆的時候，你可以送她一盒上好的惠特曼巧克力。