Blackmores Institute

Studying 98 healthy young adults (n=57 females) aged 18-24 years of age, researchers found that consuming a 35 gram commercially available 70% cocoa dark chocolate bar was associated with better verbal memory performance for several outcome measures of the Rey Auditory Verbal Learning Test (RAVLT) compared to the white chocolate group.
 
 “Dark chocolate contains a group of phytochemicals known as flavonoids, which naturally occur in many fruits and vegetables. The consumption of flavonoids and flavonoid-rich foods has been associated with numerous health benefits, and reviews of the literature indicate that cocoa flavonoids are associated with benefits to cardiovascular health and cognitive function.
 
 “Previously, acute cognitive benefits in healthy young and middle-aged adults following cocoa consumption have been seen for measures of executive function and processing speed, spatial memory and working memory. This is one of the first reported observations of improved verbal episodic memory two hours post cocoa consumption,” the authors explained.
 
 The study reported that seventeen more words were recalled following dark chocolate consumption relative to white chocolate over the course of seven trials and claims that the use of RAVLT - which has shown sensitivity to other acute flavonoid interventions, including blueberries and the Haskap berry - validates the findings.
 
 “The present data shows that recall was enhanced at all trials during the RAVLT following the dark chocolate relative to white chocolate, indicating an increased capacity to learn words at initial presentation and throughout the task, including the short-delayed recall. Interestingly, there were no effects of interference, which suggests that the dark chocolate did not reduce the process of forgetting caused by the learning of new words or reduce the effect of old learning on new learning,” the authors said.
 
 While the exact flavonoid content is unknown, information from validated databases indicate it to be approximately 80-90mg in an everyday portion of 70% cocoa dark chocolate which is much over than the majority of other acute cocoa flavonoid studies which range from 250 – 1000mg.
 
 “Whilst a strength of this research is the commercial availability of the treatments, clearly, interpretations relating to the flavonoid content are limited in the absence of its assessment. Future research should, where possible attain the content of flavonoids and other active ingredients, such as theobromine and caffeine, (estimated here to be 390 mg and 35 mg, respectively).
 
 “This research shows that 70% cocoa dark chocolate consumption can benefit verbal episodic memory two hours post-consumption in healthy young adults relative to a white chocolate control. These findings support the notion that everyday available portions (35 g) of dark chocolate can confer benefits to the brain in healthy consumers,” the authors concluded.
 
 Source: 
 Nutrients. 2020. DOI:<a href="https://www.mdpi.com/2072-6643/12/2/483">10.3390/nu12020483</a>

When it comes to dark chocolate versus white chocolate, dark chocolate wins according to British researchers investigating the effect of chocolate on episodic verbal memory.

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