Chocolate?

May 2nd, 2026| Topic: RaMbLeS | 0

Chocolate is good for you. Saith scientists. Again!

This time, in “Astringent Flavanol Fires the Locus-Noradrenergic System, Regulating Neurobehavior and Autonomic Nerves,” published Current Research in Food Science, published recently by scientists from Japan and Italy.

You’re right, it didn’t say anything about chocolate directly.

You see, astringency, is a stimulant property—almost a bitterness of sorts—unique to only a few compounds, typical ones being the flavanols. In the oral cavity or small intestine, they are known to immediately produce reactive oxygen species and give one the taste of astringency—those mouth-puckering sensations these compounds produce (which probably is related to the etymology of the word; the Latin adstringere means to draw tight, to compress, to pucker).

But guess what?

Flavanols are abundant in cocoa, red wine, and berries and closely related to the palatability of these foods.”

Anyhow the researchers decided to see if these flavanols did anything to mice. And they did: they caused memory improvement when administered before a learning task.

Now how does one test mice memory? First, these animals were allowed explored two identical objects for 10 minutes, then they were brought back an hour later to find one object replaced with something new. Mice given flavanols before the initial training spent significantly more time investigating the novel item, a sign they remembered the familiar one.

But flavanols barely make it into the bloodstream when consumed. So how are they working?

Apparently the mechanism is taste-driven. Astringent flavors trigger sensory nerves that activate the a part of the brain’s alarm system, and noradrenaline rises quickly, and remains elevated for about an hour. This surge coincided with the period neuroscientists call early memory consolidation, when electrical activity in the hippocampus (kinda the brain’s memory bank) replays recent experiences and transfers them to long-term storage. In other words, astringents trigger a precisely timed release of noradrenaline thus facilitating long-term memory. (Prior studies have shown that blocking noradrenaline receptors during this window can impair memory formation, while activating them enhances it.)

The flavanols appear to do all this primarily through taste. This would explain why the effects happen so quickly. Sensory taste signals via nerves travel much faster than do absorbed compounds via blood; the former reach the brain in seconds rather than the 30+ minutes it takes for dietary substances to peak in blood.

The long and short of it:

Mice that consumed flavanols one hour before a memory test showed a 30% improvement in recognizing new objects compared to those given plain water. These mice also moved more in their cages and showed increased grooming and rearing, behaviors associated with alertness.”

Human application unclear. After all, these mice received high doses of the chemical. Whether typical chocolate servings would produce similar effects in people remains to be seen. But still there is hope for us (dark) chocolate lovers ….

Taste affecting the brain. How weird is that? Maybe not as much as we think.

Taste and see that Yahweh is good;
blessing [upon] the one who takes refuge in Him.
Fear Yahweh, you His holy ones;
for there is no lack to those who fear Him.
The young lions want and hunger;
but they who seek Yahweh shall not lack any good thing.
Come, children, hear me;
the fear of Yahweh I will teach you.
Who is the one who desires life
and loves [many] days to see good?
Preserve your tongue from evil,
and your lips from speaking deceit.
Depart from evil and do good;
seek peace and pursue it.
Psalm 34:8–15

Yup, taste and see. And remember: He is better than chocolate!

SOURCE: Study Finds; Current Research in Food Science