Abstract
Background
Consumption of cocoa flavanols may have acute physiological effects on the brain due to their ability to activate nitric oxide synthesis. Nitric oxide mediates vasodilation, which increases cerebral blood flow, and can also act as a neurotransmitter.
Objectives
This study aimed to examine whether cocoa flavanols have an acute influence on visual working memory (WM).
Methods
Two separate randomised, double-blind, placebo-controlled, counterbalanced crossover experiments were conducted on normal healthy young adult volunteers (NExp1 = 48 and NExp2 = 32, gender-balanced). In these experiments, 415 mg of cocoa flavanols were administered to test their acute effects on visual working memory. In the first experiment, memory recall precision was measured in a task that required only passive maintenance of grating orientations in WM. In the second experiment, recall was measured after active updating (mental rotation) of WM contents. Habitual daily flavanols intake, body mass index, and gender were also considered in the analysis.
Results
The results suggested that neither passive maintenance in visual WM nor active updating of WM were acutely enhanced by consumption of cocoa flavanols. Exploratory analyses with covariates (body mass index and daily flavanols intake), and the between-subjects factor of gender also showed no evidence for effects of cocoa flavanols, neither in terms of reaction time, nor accuracy.
Conclusions
Overall, cocoa flavanols did not improve visual working memory recall performance during maintenance, nor did it improve recall accuracy after memory updating.
Similar content being viewed by others
References
Maurage P, Heeren A, Pesenti M (2013) Does chocolate consumption really boost nobel award chances? The peril of over-interpreting correlations in health studies. J Nutr 143:931–933. https://doi.org/10.3945/jn.113.174813
Sansone R, Ottaviani JI, Rodriguez-Mateos A et al (2017) Methylxanthines enhance the effects of cocoa flavanols on cardiovascular function: randomized, double-masked controlled studies. Am J Clin Nutr 105:352–360. https://doi.org/10.3945/ajcn.116.140046
Scholey AB, French SJ, Morris PJ et al (2010) Consumption of cocoa flavanols results in acute improvements in mood and cognitive performance during sustained mental effort. J Psychopharmacol 24:1505–1514. https://doi.org/10.1177/0269881109106923
Mastroiacovo D, Kwik-Uribe C, Grassi D et al (2015) Cocoa flavanol consumption improves cognitive function, blood pressure control, and metabolic profile in elderly subjects: the cocoa, cognition, and aging (CoCoA) study—a randomized controlled trial. Am J Clin Nutr 101:538–548. https://doi.org/10.3945/ajcn.114.092189
Francis ST, Head K, Morris PG, Macdonald IA (2006) The effect of flavanol-rich cocoa on the fMRI response to a cognitive task in healthy young people. J Cardiovasc Pharmacol 47:215–220. https://doi.org/10.1097/00005344-200606001-00018
Netherlands Ministry of Foreign Affairs (2017) The Dutch market potential for cocoa
Aprotosoaie AC, Luca SV, Miron A (2016) Flavor chemistry of cocoa and cocoa products—an overview. Compr Rev Food Sci Food Saf 15:73–91. https://doi.org/10.1111/1541-4337.12180
Smit HJ, Gaffan EA, Rogers PJ (2004) Methylxanthines are the psycho-pharmacologically active constituents of chocolate. Psychopharmacology 176:412–419. https://doi.org/10.1007/s00213-004-1898-3
Tsao R (2010) Chemistry and biochemistry of dietary polyphenols. Nutrients 2:1231–1246. https://doi.org/10.3390/nu2121231
Abbas M, Saeed F, Anjum FM et al (2017) Natural polyphenols: an overview. Int J Food Prop 20:1689–1699. https://doi.org/10.1080/10942912.2016.1220393
Fraga CG, Galleano M, Verstraeten SV, Oteiza PI (2010) Basic biochemical mechanisms behind the health benefits of polyphenols. Mol Asp Med 31:435–445. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.mam.2010.09.006
Scalbert A, Williamson G (2000) Chocolate: modern science investigates an ancient medicine. J Med Food 3:121–125. https://doi.org/10.1089/109662000416311
Manach C, Scalbert A, Morand C et al (2004) Polyphenols: food sources and bioavailability. Am J Clin Nutr 79:727–747. https://doi.org/10.1093/ajcn/79.5.727
Andújar I, Recio MC, Giner RM, Ríos JL (2012) Cocoa polyphenols and their potential benefits for human health. Oxid Med Cell Longev 12:1–23. https://doi.org/10.1155/2012/906252
Vogiatzoglou A, Mulligan AA, Luben RN et al (2014) Assessment of the dietary intake of total flavan-3-ols, monomeric flavan-3-ols, proanthocyanidins and theaflavins in the European Union. Br J Nutr 111:1463–1473. https://doi.org/10.1017/S0007114513003930
Fisher NDL, Hughes M, Gerhard-Herman M, Hollenberg NK (2003) Flavanol-rich cocoa induces nitric-oxide-dependent vasodilation in healthy humans. J Hypertens 21:2281–2286. https://doi.org/10.1097/00004872-200312000-00016
Fraga CG, Litterio MC, Prince PD et al (2011) Cocoa flavanols: effects on vascular nitric oxide and blood pressure. J Clin Biochem Nutr 48:63–67
Heiss C, André D, Petra K et al (2003) Vascular effects of cocoa rich in flavan-3-ols. J Am Med Assoc 290:1030–1031. https://doi.org/10.1001/jama.290.8.1030
Karim M, McCormick K, Kappagoda CT (2000) Effects of cocoa extracts on endothelium-dependent relaxation. J Nutr 130:2105S-2108S. https://doi.org/10.1093/jn/130.8.2105S
Loke WM, Hodgson JM, Proudfoot JM et al (2008) Pure dietary flavonoids quercetin and (−)-epicatechin augment nitric oxide products and reduce endothelin-1 acutely in healthy men. Am J Clin Nutr 88:1018–1025. https://doi.org/10.1093/ajcn/88.4.1018
Karabay A, Saija JD, Field DT, Akyürek EG (2018) The acute effects of cocoa flavanols on temporal and spatial attention. Psychopharmacology 235:1497–1511. https://doi.org/10.1007/s00213-018-4861-4
Calver A, Collier J, Vallance P (1992) Nitric oxide and blood vessels: physiological role and clinical implications. Biochem Educ 20:130–135. https://doi.org/10.1016/0307-4412(92)90048-Q
Hardingham N, Dachtler J, Fox K (2013) The role of nitric oxide in pre-synaptic plasticity and homeostasis. Front Cell Neurosci 7:1–19. https://doi.org/10.3389/fncel.2013.00190
Vincent SR (2010) Nitric oxide neurons and neurotransmission. Prog Neurobiol 90:246–255. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.pneurobio.2009.10.007
Garthwaite J (1991) Glutamate, nitric oxide and cell-cell signalling in the nervous system. Trends Neurosci 14:60–67. https://doi.org/10.1016/0166-2236(91)90022-M
Huang EP (1997) Synaptic plasticity: a role for nitric oxide in LTP. Curr Biol 7:141–143. https://doi.org/10.1016/S0960-9822(97)70073-3
Epstein FH, Moncada S, Higgs A (1993) The l-arginine-nitric oxide pathway. N Engl J Med 329:2002–2012. https://doi.org/10.1056/NEJM199312303292706
Field DT, Williams CM, Butler LT (2011) Consumption of cocoa flavanols results in an acute improvement in visual and cognitive functions. Physiol Behav 103:255–260. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.physbeh.2011.02.013
Massee LA, Ried K, Pase M et al (2015) The acute and sub-chronic effects of cocoa flavanols on mood, cognitive and cardiovascular health in young healthy adults: a randomized, controlled trial. Front Pharmacol 6:1–13. https://doi.org/10.3389/fphar.2015.00093
Grassi D, Socci V, Tempesta D et al (2016) Flavanol-rich chocolate acutely improves arterial function and working memory performance counteracting the effects of sleep deprivation in healthy individuals. J Hypertens 34:1298–1308. https://doi.org/10.1097/HJH.0000000000000926
Scholey A, Owen L (2013) Effects of chocolate on cognitive function and mood: a systematic review. Nutr Rev 71:665–681. https://doi.org/10.1111/nure.12065
Socci V, Tempesta D, Desideri G et al (2017) Enhancing human cognition with cocoa flavonoids. Front Nutr 4:1–7. https://doi.org/10.3389/fnut.2017.00019
Barrera-Reyes PK, de Lara JCF, González-Soto M, Tejero ME (2020) Effects of cocoa-derived polyphenols on cognitive function in humans. Systematic review and analysis of methodological aspects. Plant Foods Hum Nutr. https://doi.org/10.1007/s11130-019-00779-x
Veronese N, Demurtas J, Celotto S et al (2019) Is chocolate consumption associated with health outcomes? An umbrella review of systematic reviews and meta-analyses. Clin Nutr 38:1101–1108. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.clnu.2018.05.019
Jaeggi SM, Buschkuehl M, Perrig WJ, Meier B (2010) The concurrent validity of the N-back task as a working memory measure. Memory 18:394–412. https://doi.org/10.1080/09658211003702171
Faul F, Erdfelder E, Lang AG, Buchneri A (2007) G*Power 3: a flexible statistical power analysis program for the social, behavioral, and biomedical sciences. Behav Res Methods 39:175–191
Mathôt S, Schreij D, Theeuwes J (2012) OpenSesame: an open-source, graphical experiment builder for the social sciences. Behav Res Methods 44:314–324. https://doi.org/10.3758/s13428-011-0168-7
Suchow JW, Brady TF, Fougnie D, Alvarez GA (2013) Modeling visual working memory with the MemToolbox. J Vis 13:1–8. https://doi.org/10.1167/13.10.9
Zhang W, Luck SJ (2008) Discrete fixed-resolution representations in visual working memory. Nature 453:233–235. https://doi.org/10.1038/nature06860
Bays PM, Catalao RFG, Husain M (2009) The precision of visual working memory is set by allocation of a shared resource. J Vis 9:1–11. https://doi.org/10.1167/9.10.7
Mathôt S (2017) Bayes like a Baws: interpreting Bayesian repeated measures in JASP [Blog Post]. https://www.cogsci.nl/blog/interpreting-bayesian-repeatedmeasures-in-jasp
Aczel B, Palfi B, Szaszi B (2017) Estimating the evidential value of significant results in psychological science. PLoS ONE 12:4–11. https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0182651
Westfall PH, Johnson WO, Utts JM (1997) A Bayesian perspective on the Bonferroni adjustment. Biometrika 84:419–427. https://doi.org/10.1093/biomet/84.2.419
Curtis CE, D’Esposito M (2003) Persistent activity in the prefrontal cortex during working memory. Trends Cogn Sci 7:415–423. https://doi.org/10.1016/S1364-6613(03)00197-9
Stokes MG (2015) “Activity-silent” working memory in prefrontal cortex: a dynamic coding framework. Trends Cogn Sci 19:394–405. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.tics.2015.05.004
Wolff MJ, Jochim J, Akyürek EG, Stokes MG (2017) Dynamic hidden states underlying working-memory-guided behavior. Nat Neurosci 20:864–871. https://doi.org/10.1038/nn.4546
Camfield DA, Scholey A, Pipingas A et al (2012) Steady state visually evoked potential (SSVEP) topography changes associated with cocoa flavanol consumption. Physiol Behav 105:948–957. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.physbeh.2011.11.013
Pase MP, Scholey AB, Pipingas A et al (2013) Cocoa polyphenols enhance positive mood states but not cognitive performance: a randomized, placebo-controlled trial. J Psychopharmacol 27:451–458. https://doi.org/10.1177/0269881112473791
Brickman AM, Khan UA, Provenzano FA et al (2014) Enhancing dentate gyrus function with dietary flavanols improves cognition in older adults. Nat Neurosci 17:1798–1803. https://doi.org/10.1038/nn.3850
Neshatdoust S, Saunders C, Castle SM et al (2016) High-flavonoid intake induces cognitive improvements linked to changes in serum brain-derived neurotrophic factor: two randomised, controlled trials. Nutr Heal Aging 4:81–93. https://doi.org/10.3233/nha-1615
Hering A, Meuleman B, Bürki C et al (2017) Improving older adults’ working memory: the influence of age and crystallized intelligence on training outcomes. J Cogn Enhanc 1:358–373. https://doi.org/10.1007/s41465-017-0041-4
Kreijkamp-Kaspers S, Kok L, Grobbee DE et al (2004) Effect of soy protein containing isoflavones on cognitive function, bone mineral density, and plasma lipilds in postmenopausal women: a randomized controlled trial. J Am Med Assoc 292:65–74. https://doi.org/10.1001/jama.292.1.65
Macready AL, Kennedy OB, Ellis JA et al (2009) Flavonoids and cognitive function: a review of human randomized controlled trial studies and recommendations for future studies. Genes Nutr 4:227–242. https://doi.org/10.1007/s12263-009-0135-4
Author information
Authors and Affiliations
Corresponding author
Ethics declarations
Conflict of interest
Ahmet Altınok, Aytaç Karabay and Elkan G. Akyürek have no conflict of interest.
Rights and permissions
About this article
Cite this article
Altınok, A., Karabay, A. & Akyürek, E.G. Acute effects of cocoa flavanols on visual working memory: maintenance and updating. Eur J Nutr 61, 1665–1678 (2022). https://doi.org/10.1007/s00394-021-02767-x
Received:
Accepted:
Published:
Issue Date:
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s00394-021-02767-x