Cocoa Compounds Boost Brain Function

[NHE]

The People's Pharmacy report on a recent Nature paper showing that coco compounds, i.e., flavanols, boost brain function.

http://www.peoplespharmacy.com/2014/10/ ... -function/

Enhancing dentate gyrus function with dietary flavanols improves cognition in older adults
Nature Neuroscience (2014) doi:10.1038/nn.3850

The dentate gyrus (DG) is a region in the hippocampal formation whose function declines in association with human aging and is therefore considered to be a possible source of age-related memory decline. Causal evidence is needed, however, to show that DG-associated memory decline in otherwise healthy elders can be improved by interventions that enhance DG function. We addressed this issue by first using a high-resolution variant of functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) to map the precise site of age-related DG dysfunction and to develop a cognitive task whose function localized to this anatomical site. Then, in a controlled randomized trial, we applied these tools to study healthy 50–69-year-old subjects who consumed either a high or low cocoa–containing diet for 3 months. A high-flavanol intervention was found to enhance DG function, as measured by fMRI and by cognitive testing. Our findings establish that DG dysfunction is a driver of age-related cognitive decline and suggest non-pharmacological means for its amelioration.

[jackD]

Info from my database on Flavonoids and MS.


http://home.ix.netcom.com/~jdalton/Flavonoids%20MS.pdf

http://home.ix.netcom.com/~jdalton/OxStress-03.pdf

http://home.ix.netcom.com/~jdalton/flav.pdf

jackD

[NHE]

Thanks for the papers. I've been taking fisetin for the last month. I have no Earth shattering news to report. I may try it for another month or two to see how it goes.

[NHE]

Although it's not found in cocoa, fisetin activates Nrf2.

Flavonoids Protect Human Retinal Pigment Epithelial Cells from Oxidative-Stress–Induced Death
Invest Ophthalmol Vis Sci. 2006; 47:3164 –3177
http://www.iovs.org/content/47/7/3164.full.pdf

Fisetin induces Nrf2-mediated HO-1 expression through PKC-δ and p38 in human umbilical vein endothelial cells.
J Cell Biochem. 2011 Sep;112(9):2352-60.
http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/21520244