A study on about one thousand people found that consumption of chocolate could increase brain power. The study was led by researchers at the Luxembourg Institute of Health, University of South Australia and University of Maine. For the study, the study team examined dietary habits of the participants who were residents of Syracuse, NY.

The finding claimed that intake of chocolate could be a factor against natural cognitive decline that come with age. The participants were given tasks to perform to measure a wide range of cognitive function, including visual-Spatial Memory and Organization, Working Memory, Scanning and Tracking, Abstract Reasoning, and the Mini-Mental State Examination. The study has been published in the journal Appetite.

The researchers found that better cognitive performance came up with frequent consumption of chocolate. Visual-spatial memory, working memory, abstract reasoning and other brain functions could be improved with chocolate intake, according to them. Earlier studies have found that eating chocolate has great impact on cardiovascular health, but the new study is the first to link chocolate to brain.

The research did not found what kind of chocolate would improve brain function, but some researchers have proposed that dark chocolate contains higher levels of flavonoids. Cocoa flavonoids have been linked to better cardiovascular health and are likely to improve memory in elderly adults.

“The present findings support recent clinical trials suggesting that regular intake of cocoa flavonoids may have a beneficial effect on cognitive function, and possibly protect against normal age-related cognitive decline,” the researchers wrote.

The researchers believed that more long term experiments are required to be done to see benefits of particular types of chocolate on cognitive function and to know about ideal amount of chocolate intake.