Can Chocolate Make You a Math Genius?

A recent study has found that chocolate can not only be healthy for your heart and provide some anti-cancer benefits, but apparently it can also help your math skills.

The study, lead by scientists at the Northumbria University, was presented at the British Psychological Society annual conference. Co-author of this study, Prof David Kennedy stated that they found chocolate to be beneficial for mentally challenging tasks. When given hot cocoa with large amounts of compounds found in chocolate, volunteers performed better on mental arithmetic problems.

Flavanoids work by increasing the flow of blood to the brain, thus promoting the brain to work better. So students who binge on chocolate before exams may greatly benefit from it.

"For things that are difficult to do, mentally demanding things that maybe crop up in your work it could help," said study leader David Kennedy of Northumbria University in the UK, is quoted as saying in The Telegraph.- Robert Roy Britt, LiveScience.com

They also found, however, that on tasks such as counting backwards in groups of seven the volunteers who had the hot cocoa did not perform better. The scientist researchers claim that these operations are more complicated and require a different part of the brain.

Not only that, but the amounts used on the study were 500mg, equal to about five bars of chocolate. So, if faced with an exam or a demanding task that is due in short notice, then go ahead an binge for one day, but it is not recommended doing it habitually, unless you don't mind a few pounds weigh gain along with your math skills' surge!

But don't despair, there's more studies to come...

Emma Wightman, one of the study's lead researchers, said: "You can get bars of chocolate that have 100mg of flavanol, and we are also going to look at the effect of lower doses of flavanol on the brain."

Of course as with other benefits, dark chocolate is best and contains more flavanoids than the other varieties of chocolate. Also, eating lots of fruit and vegetables that are high in polyphenols (the group of chemicals that flavanoids belong to) is another good way to boost your brain power.

So, while chocolate won't make you a math genius, it certainly can help with daily math problems and on school tests. So eat up! - But do so sparingly.

Sources:
LiveScience.com
The Telegraph, UK
Northumbria University, London