What kind of chocolate is good for the brain and how a treat affects mental performance — 5 facts

Chocolate is one of the most beloved treats on the planet. You can argue about how useful or harmful it is for the figure, teeth, and skin. But all disputes end when it comes to such an organ as the brain.

Different types of this sweetness have different effects on the brain. But everyone remembers how quickly it restores strength, improves tone, reduces fatigue and increases concentration.

One study indicates that cocoa flavanols contained in chocolate have neuroprotective properties.

Other research claims that chocolate facilitates concentration, increases the speed of information processing and improves memory.

True, varieties of chocolate do not have the same value for the brain. Which kind is the most useful? How does chocolate affect cognitive functions and is it true that it improves brain function?  Why is it considered more useful than other sweets? Let's look at these issues in more detail.

Which view is better?

Benefits for the organ of thinking can be found in any kind of delicacy: white, milky, dark and bitter. But purposefully, to improve brain activity, it is better to use the most useful ones: dark and bitter chocolate. Let's look at all of them:

1. White chocolate has the lowest value because it contains only glucose and cocoa butter, which is useful, of course, and gives the delicacy a characteristic chocolate flavor, but does not make the product chocolate in the literal sense of the word.
2. Dairy contains a lot of milk, sugar, and a small percentage of cocoa beans, so it's already better for the brain than white. But still lags behind the dark and bitter.
3. Dark is very suitable for brain nutrition: there are more than 60% cocoa beans, not as much fat and sugar as in dairy.
4. Gorky is still the most useful option. There are more than 80-90% of useful substances, and first of all cocoa beans, but there is either no sugar at all, or so little that it does not taste. Therefore, bitter chocolate has a good effect on mental activity, and you can eat it without fear for your figure. Also dark chocolate is good for the heart .

5 facts about the effects of bitter chocolate

Bitter and dark chocolate are very beneficial for brain activity. In the absence of high-grade obesity, gastrointestinal diseases you can eat up to 50 g of high-quality product. It is suitable both as a preventive measure and as a supplement to many medications to improve brain activity.

The main component that makes a delicacy not only a favorite sweet, but also an excellent stimulant of thought processes, is cocoa beans. They contain a lot of important substances, such as:

• Flavanol;
• Magnesium;
• Lecithin;
• Theobromine;
• Phenols;
• Stearic acid;
• Phenylethylamine;
• Antioxidants.

1. Prevention of atherosclerosis

Bitter and dark chocolate contribute very well normalization of vascular function , thereby helping to slow down the development of atherosclerosis of the cerebral vessels. With regular use of several slices can be achieved:

1. Improvement of cerebral circulation;
2. Lowering cholesterol levels in the blood;
3. Soft cleaning of vessels from cholesterol plaques;
4. Feeding the circulatory system;
5. Easing and relieving spasms;
6. Strengthening of artery walls and veins;
7. Blood pressure stabilization;
8. Preventing the deposition of fats on the walls of arteries;
9. Improvements in cellular metabolism;
10. Reduces the risk of heart attack and stroke.

2. Improvement of cognitive functions

People engaged in mental work are familiar with the effect of this product, which activates cognitive functions. Eating even a small dose of treats not only gives pleasure and improves mood, but also:

1. Sharpens memory, allowing you to memorize a large amount of information and keeping it active, thus it can be useful for high mental loads, for example, before an exam;
2. Improves learning ability;
3. Improves performance , making faster reactions and allowing you to perform various mental operations;
4. Increases attention, helps to focus it on the object and delay the required amount of time.

Lecithin in the composition helps to transmit high-quality nerve impulses.

3. Hearing and vision impairment

Chocolate will not make the organs of perception different. For example, visual acuity will not increase.

But due to increased blood circulation, the blood flow that washes the brain and retina of the eye improves. Therefore vision becomes more receptive, hardy, a person begins to see better at dusk.

Drivers who have to drive a lot at night can maintain the performance of the visual apparatus from time to time with a slice of delicacy.

Prolonged stress on the organs of hearing and vision often results in pathologies in the development of these systems. For example, sitting at the computer all day, it is better to take a break from time to time in order to relax a little and combine the useful with the pleasant by eating a piece of delicacy.

4. Mood boost

This product is a well-known antidepressant. It contains unique substances.

For example, the amino acid tryptophan when consumed causes the appearance of the happiness hormone serotonin , which makes it possible to experience complacency and high spirits.

Theobromine helps maintain mood by stimulating the brain to produce increased amounts of endorphins. It even functions as a mild aphrodisiac.

Phenylethylamine is a chemical compound that creates a state close to love, delight and euphoria.

With all kinds of brain pathologies, maintaining mood plays a very important role. Any disease is cured faster if a person is in a good mood. And a depressed state, especially in cases where an organ such as the brain suffers, slows down healing.

5. Reducing cravings for food

Dark and bitter chocolate can help with weight loss. It is precisely these varieties that we are talking about, since milk and even more so white will not work.

A regularly consumed treat helps to want sweets less, and also reduces sudden cravings for food in general. This is good for general health improvement, since excess weight provokes diseases and harms blood vessels , clogging them and making the walls of the arteries brittle and permeable.

Also pay attention to the infographic:

And now let's talk about cocoa:

Is cocoa useful?

Cocoa &8212; a drink made from cocoa powder obtained from cocoa bean cake after squeezing cocoa butter. Despite this, the drink is just as good for the brain as natural chocolate. It contains the same useful substances as a tile of a bitter or dark natural product.

Medical scientists conducted an experiment: they gave several different drinks to different groups of people under the guise of cocoa. the appearance and smell of which the experiment participants could not judge, since they drank with a plug on their nose and a lid on the cup:

• Coffee;
• Coffee mixed with cocoa;
• Synthetic drink imitating cocoa in color, consistency, etc.;
• Natural cocoa.

The improvement of mental processes, increased intelligence and memory sharpening began precisely in those who drank natural cocoa. The placebo effect did not work in the other subgroups&8230;

Other drinks based on it

On the basis of healthy sweets, you can cook a large number of delicious dishes and drinks. If you add additional ingredients to them that have a positive effect on the brain, then the value of such a product will increase many times.

For example, you can make a special cocktail. For him, you need to do the following.

1. Take a cup of freshly made natural coffee, dissolve a tablespoon of good cocoa in it.
2. Pour in hot low-fat milk to taste, add a pinch of ground cinnamon and red cayenne pepper. Mix it up.

In this form, the drink is taken hot, on an empty stomach, morning and afternoon. In the evening, before going to bed, it is not recommended to use it. They don't put sugar in it. The drink may seem strangely watery and unusual without sugar. But it is in this form that it is useful to drink it to improve brain performance.

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Chocolate is one of the rare foods that combines high taste qualities with extraordinary benefits for brain cells. If you like the taste of a dairy product more, then you need to get used to the dark one gradually. Black and bitter chocolate are considered primarily as a preventive and therapeutic agent.