Lifestyle

Stock Your Pantries With Chocolate — You Won’t Regret It!

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If, like many of us, you’ve been looking for the right food stores to have on hand in the case of an emergency, then this article is worth its weight in… well, chocolate. Among the items you might want to store in your survival pantry in case of an emergency, chocolate is one of them. According to a study by the University of Maine, published on ScienceDirect, eating this dark deliciousness could make you smarter! If there’s one thing we need more in the face of a pandemic, it’s increased cognitive capacity.

In a hypothesis that was put to the test, researchers at the university found that the intake of chocolate was directly associated with cognitive function improvement. The study was comprised of 968 dementia-free adults who were tracked by their daily diets. The time frame was a span of months, and habitual consumption of this delicious treat, specifically, was studied. Over the course of the research, it was found that there was a significant relationship between chocolate intake and a broad range of brain capabilities. Other health factors that were taken into account included dietary, lifestyle, and cardiovascular. All cognitive scores improved significantly among study participants who consumed it at a minimum of once each week. There were also a variety of benefits to physical health discovered.

Stock Your Pantries With Chocolate — You Won’t Regret It!

Photo: envato elements

“Habitual chocolate intake was related to cognitive performance, measured with an extensive battery of neuropsychological tests. More frequent chocolate consumption was significantly associated with better performance on the Global Composite score, Visual-Spatial Memory and Organization, Working Memory, Scanning and Tracking, Abstract Reasoning, and the Mini-Mental State Examination,” the study reported.

Stock Your Pantries With Chocolate — You Won’t Regret It!

Photo: envato elements

The reason behind these benefits was found to be that cocoa products contain flavonoids. These are polyphenolic compounds that are naturally present in foods that are plant-based. Flavonoids have the ability to increase our working memory as well as our information processing speeds. Additional compounds discovered in this treat, which also improve cognitive processing and alertness, are theobromine, caffeine, and methylxanthines. So get yourself some of the finest chocolate in the Lone Star State, according to this Texas Highways list, or check out those that made the Texas’ best list from Huffington Post here, and stock your pantry with the best brain food there is!