Cocoa Powder and Red Berry Support Executive Function in Healthy Adults

by | Mar 7, 2022 | 2022, Brain Health, Cognitive Health, Fruits and Vegetables, Polyphenols

Written by Chrystal Moulton, Staff Writer. Positive correlation observed between cognitive sums, NGF-R-R, and BDNF in men versus women. 

fruits and vegetablesPolyphenols are antioxidant compounds found in plants shown to support various systems within the body. In the brain, polyphenols support neurogenesis in dentate gyrus, facilitate de novo protein synthesis, and combat oxidative stress 1. Anthocyanins, a class of polyphenols commonly found in red fruits and wines 2, have demonstrated benefits in memory, learning, and neuronal response 3,4. Flavanols, like polyphenols, act as antioxidant compounds within the brain demonstrating positive effects on cognitive performance 5 and overall function 6. Flavanols can be found in cocoa, tea, fruit and cereals 7. In the current study, researchers investigated the combined and individual effect of anthocyanins and flavanols on cognition and specific neurotrophic factors (i.e. brain-derived neurotrophic factor [BDNF] and nerve growth factor receptor [NGF-R]) 7.

Individuals aged 50-75 years old who were not over or under weight, heavy smokers (<5 cigarettes/day), menstruating, with no history of chronic diseases or depression were allowed to participate in this study. Study design was a double-blind, randomized, parallel group trial. Participants were randomized to one of three groups:

  1. Red berries group- red berry mixture providing 100mg anthocyanins in 100g
  2. Cocoa powder group- cocoa powder containing 200mg flavanols in 100g
  3. Red berries + cocoa powder group- combination of both

Participants were instructed to consume 1 tablespoon/day dissolved in water, juice, cereal, or yogurt with their breakfast. Anthropometric measurements along with urine and blood samples were collected at baseline and end of the 12-week study period.  Diet records and cognitive tests were also conducted at baseline and at the end of the trial.

Sixty participants completed the trial. Each group was randomly assigned 20 participants. No significant differences were observed between the groups for demographic data at baseline or metabolic markers throughout the trial. The average age of the study population was 57 years old and the average metabolic age was 52 years old.

Heart rate was significantly higher at week 12 in the red berries group (p=0.004) and cocoa powder group (p=0.007). A significant between-group difference was observed for brain-derived neurotrophic factor (BDNF) [p=0.036]. No significant difference was observed within groups for brain-derived neurotrophic factor (BDNF) or nerve growth factor receptor (NGF-R) after 12 weeks. IL-6 was significantly increased within the cocoa powder (p<0.001) and the red berry + cocoa powder group (p= 0.036). No between-group difference was observed. No significant differences were observed within or between groups for cognitive test sums after 12 weeks.

When assessing each test individually, researchers saw a significant reduction in Tower of London test duration (p= 0.007), improvement in word recognition on TAVEC test (p< 0.05), and an increase in accuracy and speed in processing punctuation (p= 0.012). Correlation between BDNF, NGF-R, and cognitive test sums showed that in men, high intake of polyphenols was associated with high BDNF levels (p= 0.048). Also, NGF-R levels were positively correlated with movements required to complete the Tower of London cognitive test (p= 0.012). In women, NGF-R was positively correlated to the sum of memory tests (p= 0.024) and test sum for processing speed and attention (p= 0.013) while BDNF levels was negatively correlated to the Tower of London test (p= 0.044).

This study showed no improvement in BDNF or NGF-R levels following supplementation with either red berries, cocoa powder, or red berries + cocoa powder after 12 weeks. However, correlational analysis revealed a positive relationship between cognitive velocity, memory, and NGF-R levels in women. In men, a negative relationship was observed between NGF-R and the Tower of London test. Additionally, positive correlation was found between polyphenol corrected by creatinine and BDNF levels in men.

Two limitations of the study were that the number of subjects was slightly low considering it was a parallel study and also that there was no control group.  Further studies will be needed to verify the study results.

Source: García-Cordero, Joaquín, Alicia Pino, Constanza Cuevas, Verónica Puertas-Martín, Ricardo San Román, and Sonia de Pascual-Teresa. “Neurocognitive Effects of Cocoa and Red-Berries Consumption in Healthy Adults.” Nutrients 14, no. 1 (2022): 1.

© 2021 by the authors. Licensee MDPI, Basel, Switzerland. This article is an open access article distributed under the terms and conditions of the Creative Commons Attribution (CC BY) license (https:// creativecommons.org/licenses/by/ 4.0/).

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Posted March 7, 2022.

Chrystal Moulton BA, PMP, is a 2008 graduate of the University of Illinois at Chicago. She graduated with a bachelor’s in psychology with a focus on premedical studies and is a licensed project manager. She currently resides in Indianapolis, IN.

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