Alzheimer's disease (AD) is a dementing neurological disorder that results in progressive memory loss and cognitive decline thought to be associated with buildup of amyloid plaques and neurofibrillary tangles in the brain. Vascular Dementia (VaD) is another common dementing disorder characterized by decreased brain perfusion. Together, AD and VaD constitute mixed dementia, an extremely common t...

Question " In healthy adults, how effective is the consumption of cocoa flavanols/cocoa polyphenols, particularly drinking cocoa, for improving memory and cognitive function? "

Widely consumed beverages such as red wine, tea, and cocoa-derived products are a great source of flavanols. Epidemiologic and interventional studies suggest that cocoa flavanols such as (-)-epicatechin may reduce the risk of cardiovascular diseases. The interaction of (-)-epicatechin with food components including other polyphenols could modify its absorption, metabolism, and finally its bioac...

Epidemiologic investigations support the hypothesis that regular consumption of flavonoid-containing foods can reduce the risk of cardiovascular diseases (CVD). While flavonoids are ubiquitous in plants, cocoa can be particularly rich in a sub-class of flavonoids known as flavanols. A number of human dietary intervention trials with flavanol-containing cocoa products have demonstrated improveme...

The aim of this study was to assess the ability of different wines – a sweet red, a dry red, a sweet white, and a dry white – to scavenge the stable 1,1’-diphenyl-2-picryl-hydrazyl radical (DPPH.) and to determine their phenolic composition. Both red wines contained, apart from anthocyanins, also higher concentration of total phenolics, tartaric esters, and flavonols than the two white wines. A...

AIMS In a previous study, we found that prolonged oxidative stress produced by chronic ethanol consumption leads to an increased formation of lipofuscin in hippocampal and cerebellar neurons. This pigment is an end-result of lipid peroxidation. Flavanols, which abound in the human diet, are known to exert a powerful in-vitro antioxidant action. Therefore, to evaluate whether these compounds mig...

Widely consumed beverages such as red wine, tea, and cocoaderived products are a great source of flavanols. Epidemiologic and interventional studies suggest that cocoa flavanols such as (–)-epicatechin may reduce the risk of cardiovascular diseases. The interaction of (–)-epicatechin with food components including other polyphenols could modify its absorption, metabolism, and finally its bioact...

Enhancing cognitive abilities has become a fascinating scientific challenge, recently driven by the interest in preventing age-related cognitive decline and sustaining normal cognitive performance in response to cognitively demanding environments. In recent years, cocoa and cocoa-derived products, as a rich source of flavonoids, mainly the flavanols sub-class, have been clearly shown to exert c...