From: drarwingnuttephd@gmail.com   
      
   Booze and Chocolate New Dementia Prevention Plan?    
      
   Emily Study   
   October 27, 2014         
      
      
   Alcohol and chocolate may not be cure-alls for memory loss or dementia, but   
   they could help prevent these conditions, new research shows.    
      
   In two independent studies, researchers find that drinking a moderate amount   
   of alcohol might preserve cognitive functioning, while a natural compound in   
   cocoa can reverse age-related memory loss.    
      
   Findings published in the American Journal of Alzheimer's Disease & Other   
   Dementias show that alcohol consumption in late life, but not midlife, is   
   associated with episodic memory and larger hippocampal volume.    
      
   The hippocampus is a part of the brain that plays an important role in   
   short-term and long-term memory, as well as spatial navigation.    
      
   "The findings from this study provide new evidence that hippocampal volume may   
   contribute to the observed differences in episodic memory among older adults   
   and late-life alcohol consumption status," an abstract of the study indicates.    
      
   Another study, published recently in the Nature Neuroscience journal, finds   
   that naturally occurring flavanols in cocoa reverse mild memory loss in older   
   adults.    
      
   This study also looks to the hippocampus as a measure of the "treatment's"   
   success. The dentate gyrus (DG) is a region in the hippocampal region whose   
   function declines in association with human aging and is thus considered to be   
   a possible source of age-   
   related memory decline.    
      
   Researches tested the effect of cocoa in a controlled randomized trial of   
   healthy 50- to 69-year-olds who consumed either a high or low cocoa-containing   
   diet for three months.    
      
   And they found that those with a high cocoa-containing, or high-flavanol, diet   
   enhanced DG function, as measured by functional magnetic resonance imaging   
   (fMRI) and by cognitive testing.    
      
   "Our findings establish that DG dysfunction is a driver of age-related   
   cognitive decline and suggest non-pharmacological means for its amelioration,"   
   the researchers write.    
      
   Access the study published in the American Journal of Alzheimer's Disease &   
   Other Dementias. Click here for the study published in Nature Neuroscience.    
      
   Written by Emily Study    
      
   http://seniorhousingnews.com/2014/10/27/booze-chocolate-new-deme   
   tia-prevention-plan/   
      
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