巧克力可增強腦功能?
A new US study hints that eating milk chocolate may boost brain function.
"Chocolate contains many substances that act as stimulants, such as theobromine, phenethylamine, and caffeine," Dr Bryan Raudenbush, from Wheeling Jesuit University in West Virginia, said in comments to Reuters Health.
"These substances by themselves have previously been found to increase alertness and attention and what we have found is that by consuming chocolate you can get the stimulating effects, which then lead to increased mental performance."
To study the effects of various chocolate types on brain power, Dr Raudenbush and colleagues had a group of volunteers consume, on four separate occasions, 85 grams of milk chocolate; 85 grams of dark chocolate; 85 grams of carob; and nothing (the control condition).
After a 15-minute digestive period, participants completed a variety of computer-based neuropsychological tests designed to assess cognitive performance including memory, attention span, reaction time and problem solving.
"Composite scores for verbal and visual memory were significantly higher for milk chocolate than the other conditions," Dr Raudenbush said.
And consumption of milk and dark chocolate was associated with improved impulse control and reaction time.
Previous research has shown that some nutrients in food aid in glucose release and increased blood flow, which may augment cognitive performance.
Dr Raudenbush said the current findings "provide support for nutrient release via chocolate consumption to enhance cognitive performance".美國一項新的研究表明吃牛奶巧克力能健腦。
“巧克力包含了許多刺激性的物質，諸如可可鹼，苯乙胺和咖啡因。”來自西弗吉尼亞Wheeling Jesuit大學的Bryan Raudenbush博士在路透社健康版的評論中說。
這些物質本身曾被發現能增加機敏性和注意力，我們也發現吃巧克力可以得到刺激性的效果從而提神。
爲了研究不同種類巧克力對腦力的影響力，Raudenbush博士和同事們擁有一個吃巧克力的志願者隊伍，分爲四組，一組吃85克牛奶巧克力，一組吃85克黑巧克力，一組是85克長豆角，還有一組什麼也不吃（控制狀態）
15分鐘的消化過程後，參與者們在計算機上完成了多種神經心理測試，目的是評估包括記憶，注意力，反應時間問題解決能力的認知能力。
“在口語和視覺記憶的綜合評價上牛奶巧克力顯得尤爲突出。”Raudenbush博士說。
牛奶巧克力和黑巧克力的消化可同時提高自制力和反應力。
在此之前的研究已經揭示了食品中的一些營養物質輔助葡萄糖的分解和增加血液流量，也就是他們能提高認知能力。
Raudenbush博士道出了最近的發現“通過巧克力的消化來輔助分解營養以增強認知能力”。
