Chocolate can stave off Alzheimers via improved cerebral blood flow

[Marco]

The tabloid version :

http://www.express.co.uk/life-style...a-boosts-blood-flow-to-the-brain-new-research

and some more of the science :

https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC4534492/

Interesting that the improvements may come from improvement in endothelial dysfunction in the elderly due to induced vasodilation via activation of the nitric oxide system.

 

[me/cfs 27931]

I consume CocoaVia daily and do think it helps mildly with age-related cognitive decline (I'm 54). Wish I had started earlier.

My major cognitive decline, however, has not been gradual. It has been episodic, coinciding with significant worsening of my ME/CFS symptoms. Roughly ages 16-17, 21-22, 25-26, 29-30, 38-39, 44-45, 50-51.

After each episode, some of my cognitive function comes back, but some remains permanently lost. It's rather distressing to think about how much of me is missing. I'll do whatever I can to preserve what is left.

 

[bombsh3ll]

Not getting my hopes up but it sure beats fish oil capsules! I feel my biggest problem is poor blood supply to the brain. I hadn't heard of CocoaVia but am always interested in things that might help. I think you would have to eat an awful lot of chocolate to get any real results!

 

[Mrs Sowester]

3 weeks into my diet and you tell me this!

 

[Tally]

3 weeks into my diet and you tell me this!

If you eat reasonable amounts of chocolate that's over 80% cocoa content, it won't mess with your diet.

 

[Alvin2]

I only read the abstract but my take is this is a piece of a puzzle and we don't even know if its the right puzzle.

An example, a study found Vitamin K2 restores energy in an animal model of Parkinsons. Sounds promising, until you understand that its an example of the streetlight effect, the animal model is not identical to the human model hence the results are probably useless. The predominating theory is its caused by alpha synuclein buildup killing brain cells, possibly mediated by the ABL1 protein. Extra energy appears to have little effect on this, yet the animal model showed excellent results on a different mechanism.
Translated, if Alzheimers is caused by amyloid or tau proteins causing brain cell death then increasing blood flow probably has little effect on this. It would be like saying you cured a cold by taking cough medicine. Its your immune system that actually defeats the cold.

 

[me/cfs 27931]

Actually, I am at risk for early onset familial Alzheimer's. But since I didn't start forgetting the names of family members in my 40's like my grandmother did, I'm probably in the clear.

 

[me/cfs 27931]

3 weeks into my diet and you tell me this!

You can stay on your diet!

A packet of unsweetened CocoaVia is only 25 calories. The powder is bitter, however.

 

[perchance dreamer]

Theo's 85% chocolate bar is delicious, very smooth, especially for such a dark chocolate:

https://www.amazon.com/Theo-Classic...98926837&sr=8-1&keywords=theo's+85%+chocolate

 

[Little Bluestem]

This was in people who were otherwise healthy, or at least did not have ME/CFS. I wonder if cocoa would overcome the additional problems with blood flow to the brain that we have? That doesn't keep me from eating a couple of squares of 85% dark chocolate/day.

 

[RogerBlack]

This is the sort of thing it would really be nice to have a simple 'at-home-clinical trial' type thing.
There are several thousand supplements and 'generally recognised as safe' food ingredients.
Some subset of these have at least plausible effects on CFS.

100 people taking for a week and recording their fatigue level daily for pills that contain cocoa powder, or placebo, or ... would generate usable data if the effect was worthy of further investigation.