Chocolate makes you smarter, study suggests

Eating chocolate is good for your heart, reduces the risk of strokes and even helps protect your skin from the sun. Now, another apparent benefit has been added to the list of chocolate's nutritional qualities: it makes you smarter. A study, published recently in the journal Appetite, indicated that people who eat chocolate at least once a week saw their memory and abstract thinking improve.

            “It's significant as it touches a number of cognitive domains,” psychologist Merrill Elias, one of the leaders of the study, told the Washington Post. Mr Elias began studying the cognitive abilities of more than 1,000 people in the state of New York in the 1970s, initially looking at the relationship between people's blood pressure and brain performance.

            About 15 years ago, he decided to ask participants what they were eating, adding a new set of questions about dietary habits. Leading the analysis of the study was Georgina Crichton, a nutrition researcher at the University of South Australia. Ms Crichton recognised the study presented a unique opportunity to examine the effects of chocolate on the brain, using a large sample size.

            Examining the scores on cognitive tests of participants who ate chocolate less than once a week and those who ate it at least once a week, the researchers found eating chocolate was strongly linked to superior brain function. The benefits would mean you would be better at daily tasks "such as remembering a phone number, or your shopping list, or being able to do two things at once, like talking and driving at the same time".

            "Our study definitely indicates that the direction is not that cognitive ability affects chocolate consumption, but that chocolate consumption affects cognitive ability". They found cognitive ability does not predict whether you a chocolate eater or not.

            Why this is the case remains uncertain. However, previous studies have shown that food containing nutrients called flavanols, such as chocolate, improves brain function.In 2009, another research found mental arithmetic became easier and chocolate has also been found to help ward off memory loss, even in the elderly.

           

            However, Mr Elias stressed they weren't suggesting people stuffed their faces with chocolate bars all week. "I think what we can say for now is that you can eat small amounts of chocolate without guilt if you don't substitute chocolate for a normal balanced healthy diet," he added.

Question 1 (2 points) Indicate whether the following statements are true or false and write down which part of the text justifies your answer.

a. Diet was a key factor in the study at first.

b. The number of participants in the study offered favourable circumstances to the researchers.

c. It's not only chocolate that helps make your brain function better.

d. The study recommends eating much more chocolate.

Question 2 (2 points) Answer the following questions in your own words.

a. What are some of the benefits of eating chocolate mentioned in the text?

b. What is Mr Ellias last recommendation?

Question 3 (1.5 points) Find words or phrases in the text that correspond in meaning to the words and definitions given.

a. marks p.3                                       b. exceptional p.3                   c. chores p.4

d. to protect against p.6                     e. fault, blame p.7

Question 4 (1.5 points) Complete the following sentences without changing the meaning.

a. Georgina Crichton is a nutrition researcher. Ms Crichton recognised the study presented a unique opportunity.

            Georgina Crichton...

b.   Examining the scores on cognitive tests, the researchers found eating chocolate was strongly linked to superior brain function.

            If the researchers...

c. Chocolate has also been found to help ward off memory loss.

            Researchers...

Question 5 (3 points) Write a short essay (120-150 words) on the following topic:

“Eating recommendations are constantly changing”. What do you think?