I’ve confessed to my “Mommy addiction” in previous posts.
It’s not Downton Abbey, Facebook or expensive leather handbags (though, I wouldn’t balk if Santa happened to leave a Hermes Birkin bag under the tree this Christmas). Rather, my obsession is much higher in calories: Nature Valley Dark Chocolate Granola Thins.
A.K.A. Crunchy crack.
Crispy, chocolatey, OOOOHHH-EMMM-GEEE! drool-on-your-keyboard crack.
Don’t let the name fool you; the granola part is just a guise. The fact is; I’m all about the chocolate.
I love me some chocolate… and so does my 8-year-old.
Unfortunately, as parents we’re supposed to set good examples, so eating chocolate for breakfast, lunch and dinner is not typically deemed “appropriate” by those who make the rules “good” moms and dads should follow.
Or is it?
According to a new study, allowing yourself and your kids to gorge on chocolate from time to time may not be such a bad thing after all.
Researchers from the University of Calgary’s Hotchkiss Brain Institute claim that chocolate can help improve memory.
The scientists set out to prove their theory by submerging snails in regular tap water or water containing epicatechin—a flavonoid found in chocolate—for 30 minutes. Whenever the tiny mollusks tried to use their breathing tubes researchers poked them with a stick.
“Much like if you were in my class and every time you yawned, I tapped you on the nose, you’d learn not to yawn,” explained lead study author Ken Lukowiak, PhD, a professor of neuroscience at the University of Calgary.
Twenty-four hours after the initial experiment the scientists repeated the poking exercise to see how many times the snails opened their breathing tubes. According to Lukowiak, a reduction would prove that the snails remembered what happened when they popped out their tubes.
In the end, researchers found the snails that were submerged in the tap water had memories that lasted about three hours. Meanwhile, the snails submerged in the “chocolate water” had memories that lasted nearly 48 hours.
Scientists deduce that the flavonoid in chocolate appeared to positively affect the brain much like oxygen does.
Even more interesting is the experiment Lukowiak tried with his own daughter. The dad fed his kid chocolate for three consecutive nights prior to a big test. The girl consumed a small quantity of dark chocolate right before studying and ended up getting a near perfect score.
Lukowiak acknowledged other confounding variables in his experiment, and is quick to point out that more research is needed before science can say that chocolate significantly improves human memory. But, hey, if you love chocolate this may be one of the best excuses to satisfy your sweet tooth… just in time for Halloween.