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Eating chocolate is associated with improved brain function

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Re: Eating chocolate is associated with improved brain function

#71

Post by PeterWhittaker »

wapapaloobop wrote: post #61
leoedin wrote: post #55

Earlier quoted context omitted.

You haven't read the original paper, don't even understand the methodology they used to reach their conclusions and yet you "can't help but feel this research makes pretty poor use of statistics and logic"? It seems something is bad here, but I don't think it's the nutritional research. If you can't be bothered to actually read the paper, why do you think you're able to critique it?

Cos it doesn't work with an explanation. Science is about explaining things.

Hmm, yes, that is true. But "science" doesn't pull explanations from the air (that would be religion or superstition, ya know).

Science first finds unlikely or unexpected correlations, unlikely or unexpected measurements, and seeks to understand from whence they came. Are they artifacts of the observation process? Tainting of the measurement process? Or spurious correlations, such as the one between height and spelling ability (both of which are strongly correlated with age, up to a certain point)?

This particular research announces an unexpected correlation and goes to pains to show that it is real, and not spurious. This is the observation phase, the oh, didn't expect that phase. Explanation will come later, likely after someone designs a more accurate and precise experiment to better correlate chocolate consumption and cognitive ability.

Re: Eating chocolate is associated with improved brain function

#72

Post by briHass »

wobbleblob wrote: post #42
winter_blue wrote: post #3

Just as an FYI, I found a company recently that makes chocolate with zeor sugar, that's sweetened with Stevia: https://www.cocopolo.com/ I didn't like their dark chocolate, but their milk chocolate comes pretty close to regular milk chocolate.

What is this current obsession with stevia? It has a very strong, pretty much unpalatable taste that even strong espresso can't mask.

There seems to be a genetic component to how we perceive the taste of some of these artificial sweeteners [1]. Personally, I also think stevia is gross -- bitter and metallic aftertaste.

The best AS for me is sucralose (Splenda). I can't tell it apart from sugar. I've also never seen any results about it that would concern me, and it's been studied more than almost anything else we eat.

[1] http://news.psu.edu/story/284556/2013/08/20/research/multipl...

Re: Eating chocolate is associated with improved brain function

#73

Post by delinka »

Those with 'improved brain function' generally eat more chocolate. Now I can say with impunity "I prefer chocolate because I have improved brain function."

Chocolate improves brain function. Now I can say with impunity "Chocolate is improving my brain function."

Re: Eating chocolate is associated with improved brain function

#74

Post by pps43 »

leereeves wrote: post #31
Gatsky wrote: post #2

Self-reported chocolate intake? There are so many possible confounders here. It seens quite implausible that chocolate can acutely enhance cognitive ability. Alternative explanations are more likely, although not newsworthy. I also think that nutrition science, which is deficient enough as it is, should not be mixed with epidemiology, which seems designed to detect spurious associations.

We should consider all research skeptically, but why does it seem particularly implausible that cocoa flavanols can enhance cognitive ability? Other research: https://scholar.google.com/scholar?q=cocoa+flavanols+cogniti...

I think the point here is not which prior to use for effect of chocolate, but how to account for the differences between actual and self-reported chocolate consumption, which itself might be correlated with cognitive ability.

Maybe people who ate chocolate but did not report it (because "eating too much chocolate is bad for you") tended to have lower cognitive ability - they did not realise that by reporting incorrect intake they introduced bias in the study.

Re: Eating chocolate is associated with improved brain function

#75

Post by dorfsmay »

toephu2 wrote: post #41
songzme wrote: post #10

From personal experience, every bite of chocolate provides me a moment of bliss and happiness. I think happiness is the real reason for improved brain function. I find myself most productive and most capable when I am happy.

That's called dopamine. The chocolate you eat probably has sugar in it (otherwise it tastes horrible; try raw cacao), and sugar is a drug associated w/ the release of dopamine in the brain.

There are 90% and 95% cocoa chocolate that taste really good, you don't need a lot of sugar to take the bitterness off. Look for shops making their own dark chocolate, or smaller brands. The most well known brand people associate with dark chocolate tastes bitter and powdery (I suspect they use too much solid and not enough fat)

Note that cocoa itself makes the brain release large amount of dopamine.

Re: Eating chocolate is associated with improved brain function

#76

Post by GFK_of_xmaspast »

toephu2 wrote: post #41
songzme wrote: post #10

From personal experience, every bite of chocolate provides me a moment of bliss and happiness. I think happiness is the real reason for improved brain function. I find myself most productive and most capable when I am happy.

That's called dopamine. The chocolate you eat probably has sugar in it (otherwise it tastes horrible; try raw cacao), and sugar is a drug associated w/ the release of dopamine in the brain.

There's a huge difference between "dark chocolate" and "purestrain sugar".

Re: Eating chocolate is associated with improved brain function

#77

Post by dsr_ »

matwood wrote: post #70
Riesling wrote: post #58

Earlier quoted context omitted.

From my personal experience, I have to agree with wapapaloobop. I put a spoon of raw cacao in my morning coffee, because I love the taste. However I drink (and eat no) sugar whatsoever and found the taste disgusting (in the sense of spitting it out) when I accidentally drank from my girlfriends coffee some time ago.

I agree with you. I enjoy straight espresso and good black coffee. If I want to 'sweeten' it I add some milk. When getting coffee at shops I have mistakenly received one of those super sweet caramel, sugar whatever they are called and almost had to spit out the sip. I wonder if it is learned or if people who like sweets have different taste buds than those who do not. I also like really hoppy beer and bitter candy.

It is partially learned, partially a built-up tolerance.

Anecdata: About three years ago I drastically reduced my intake of carbohydrates, including all forms of sugar and starch. After around two months, I tried tasting some things that I had stopped eating -- fruit juice, a bit of pie -- and discovered that they were horribly sweet to my tongue.

Re: Eating chocolate is associated with improved brain function

#79

Post by DenisM »

winter_blue wrote: post #35
DenisM wrote: post #30

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Are you conserved with sugar per se, or the insulin response? Cocoa causes insulin spike even when sugar-free, iirc.

Yup, I am concerned about the insulin response / glycemic index. Hmm...

Found it on https://www.researchgate.net

"Holt SHA, Brand Miller JC, Petocz P. An insulin index of foods: the insulin demand generated by 1000-kJ portions of common foods. Am J Clin Nutr 66, 1264-1276"

I highly recommend it as a source for glycemic response of different foods; some things are entirely counterintuitive.

Are you on low sugar/flour/starch diet?

Re: Eating chocolate is associated with improved brain function

#80

Post by netghost »

ktRolster wrote: post #46
toephu2 wrote: post #41

Earlier quoted context omitted.

That's called dopamine. The chocolate you eat probably has sugar in it (otherwise it tastes horrible; try raw cacao), and sugar is a drug associated w/ the release of dopamine in the brain.

> otherwise it tastes horrible; try raw cacao It's actually delicious, and each bean has its own flavor. If you live near Silicon Valley, head up to Dandelion chocolate and you can try some there (work up to it by getting used to the bitter chocolate first)

If you live in Seattle, drop by the Theo Chocolate factory in Fremont. Delicious.
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