What Cocoa Will (& Won’t) Do For Your Brain

Spoiler: it effects some effects and amongst the effects it effects, it affects the affect.

Let’s break that down:

Chocolate will not cure all ills (but…)

First, let us unravel our silly wordplay (because after all, Curiosity Kills The Neurodegeneration):

• Effect (noun) = the result of something
• Effect (verb) = cause to be, bring into being
• Affect (noun) = mood
• Affect (verb) = to produce a change in

So in other words, it meant: cocoa brings about some results, and amongst the results it brings about, it can produce a change in one’s mood.

Now, if that got those “little gray cells” working, let’s see what, more specifically, cocoa does and doesn’t do:

Per recent research, in a nutshell: cocoa has the most promising human evidence for mood-related benefits, with some studies reporting modest yet significant improvements in depressive symptoms, calmness, contentment, or fatigue.

When it comes to cognition, however, results are mixed. Some studies have reported improvements in processing speed, cognitive flexibility, verbal memory, or executive function, while others found no meaningful improvements in attention, working memory, reaction time, or cognitive accuracy.

In terms of what’s going on physiologically, it can be divided into main areas:

• BDNF and CREB: cocoa polyphenols appear to influence BDNF¹ and CREB² signaling, which are involved in neuronal survival, learning, memory, and neuroplasticity.
  • See also: Enjoy Bitter Foods For Your Heart & Brain
• Brain blood flow: cocoa flavanols in particular appear to improve cerebral blood flow and endothelial function, providing a possible pathway for effects on brain function.
  • See also: Are You Getting The Right Kinds Of Flavonoids?
• Gut–brain axis: 30 g/day of 85% dark chocolate for three weeks was associated with improved negative affect and changes in gut microbial diversity, as per Making Friends With Your Gut (You Can Thank Us Later)
  • Let’s clarify “improved negative affect”, as that string of words may be confusing. What it means is that it alleviated low mood, in other words, it lifted the mood.
    

1. This Brain-Derived Neurotrophic Factor (BDNF) is something people often don’t think about as it can’t reasonably be supplemented directly, but there are things we can do to improve it, including the following: Ways To Boost Brain-Derived Neurotrophic Factor (BDNF)
2. And yes, cAMP-Response Element Binding Protein (CREB) is important too, which we’ve written about before: Are Fruit & Vegetable Extract Supplements Worth It?

You can read this paper itself, here: Cocoa polyphenols in brain health: BDNF/CREB-mediated mechanisms in depression, cognition, and the gut–brain axis

As an important caveat, these benefits are attributed primarily to cocoa polyphenols, particularly flavanols. Processed chocolate should not automatically be assumed to provide the same effects, because products vary considerably in cocoa content, dairy, processing, sugar, and fat.

We wrote about that latter part here: Dark Chocolate & Your Age

Want to eat more?

You might like these healthy recipes we’ve shared:

• Anti-Inflammatory Brownies
• Loaded Mocha Chocolate Parfait
• Sesame Chocolate Fudge
• Healthy Choco-Banoffee Ice Cream
• Black Forest Chia Pudding

Enjoy!