Dark chocolate linked to mental health benefits

Buffett, whose holding company, Berkshire Hathaway, owns chocolatier See’s Candies, reportedly has a sweet tooth. Earlier this month, the Oracle of Omaha auctioned off a guided tour of a See’s factory for $156,000 to benefit an education nonprofit, promising that he would demonstrate to the winner “the only acceptable way to eat a bonbon.”

While Buffett’s favorite bonbon flavor remains under wraps (Berkshire Hathaway didn’t return a call for comment on his preferences) his choice might be healthy as well as tasty. Studies have suggested that dark chocolate carries a whole host of health benefits. One of the most recent showed that drinking two cups of hot cocoa a day improved certain older adults’ performance on working memory tests—offering a glimmer of hope in the search for ways to curb the high financial, emotional and physical toll of dementia.

There’s enough evidence of dark chocolate’s health benefits that some experts suggest incorporating small amounts of the stuff into a healthy diet. Chocolate, after all, is a plant-based food. The cocoa bean grows on trees, and it’s a powerful source of nutrients called flavanols, a type of antioxidant that helps protect plants from environmental toxins and can help heal damaged human cells. Of course, cocoa beans undergo processing when they get turned into chocolate. But certain types of dark chocolate retain many of their nutrients even after processing, and they’re believed to be the healthiest.

Chocolate has been associated with heart health, with earlier studies suggesting it helps to lower blood pressure and reduce the incidence of cardiovascular disease. People with high blood pressure, in turn, are thought to be at greater risk of developing dementia, and that connection may help to explain the more recent research findings. The new study out of Harvard Medical School found that drinking two cups of hot cocoa a day improved working memory in a subset of study subjects who had lower brain blood flow responses during a memory test, a possible precursor to cognitive decline.

The study focused on 60 adults with an average age of 73 who had risk factors such as high blood pressure but no cognitive impairment. Cocoa may have improved working memory in some participants by boosting blood flow to the brain. Of course, much more research is needed to determine whether cocoa can help prevent dementia or slow its progression in people with mild cognitive decline and, ultimately, in the healthy, said the study’s lead author, Dr. Farzaneh Sorond, assistant professor of neurology at Harvard Medical School and a neurologist at Brigham and Women’s Hospital in Boston. For now, she said, the findings are “promising.”

The right chocolate, in small doses

You might be thinking, why wait for science? Why not start drinking hot chocolate now just in case? Before you rush out to the grocery store and load up on Swiss Miss, keep this in mind: The subjects were drinking specially manufactured hot cocoa, not typical, commercially produced hot chocolate. Researchers used cocoa packs because they were easier to design and control than a hunk of chocolate, Sorond said. Although it was artificially sweetened, the beverage was more bitter and less creamy than hot chocolate.

For those who want to reap the likely health benefits of chocolate, some dietitians recommend a strategy that’s easier on the waistline and the wallet. Kristin Kirkpatrick, manager of wellness nutrition services at the Cleveland Clinic Wellness Institute, recommends that her clients eat one ounce of dark chocolate a day, since that’s an amount proven to show benefits but not big enough to load you down with sugar and fat. One ounce is roughly one square of a thick bar or one-and-a-half squares of a thin bar.

Kirkpatrick recommends this modest treat even to her weight-loss clients, since it can also boost satiety (and if people don’t feel full, they’re more likely to satisfy their sweet tooth with a less healthy option). Most diabetics can also manage this amount, she said, as long as they plan for it. Chocolate must have solid content of at least 35% cocoa to be considered “dark,” according to Swiss chocolatier Lindt. But Kirkpatrick recommends seeking out chocolate with a cocoa content of at least 70%, and avoiding products with caramel and other fillers.

Not everyone embraces this advice, however. Ruth Frechman, a registered dietitian nutritionist and spokesperson for the Academy of Nutrition and Dietetics, said even small amounts of fat and calories add up over time. (An ounce of chocolate has about 150 calories.) Frechman said she’s been experimenting with adding cocoa powder, which has far fewer calories, to fruit smoothies. Frechman uses the powder that’s used for baking, a more bitter and less caloric option than dessert chocolate. If you want to try the same, go for natural cocoa, not Dutch processed, since the former contains more flavanols, Frechman said.

Dr. Sara Warber, associate professor of family medicine at the University of Michigan Medical School, says it’s best to get most nutrients, including antioxidants, in the form of foods, not dietary supplements. Cocoa supplements exist in either pill or powdered form. But since experts aren’t sure what ingredient, or combination of ingredients, contributes to a given food’s benefits, they say it’s best not to isolate any components.

In the case of cocoa, for example, caffeine might have conferred some of the benefits observed in the recent Harvard study, Dr. Sorond said. Yet there’s no guarantee a supplement manufacturer would replicate the caffeine content of natural cocoa. The Food and Drug Administrationdoesn’t regulate supplements as closely as drugs, and there’s always a possibility that a supplement’s contents won’t match its marketing claims. Not to mention that supplements are often pricier than the real deal.

Besides, Kirkpatrick said, “Chocolate is so good, why would anyone want it in a supplement?”

We’re sure Buffett would agree.