I follow the science. And good science is not hard to spot. But, sometimes, it does come from some unlikely places. For example, some of the most exciting recent research on diet and memory loss comes from a candy company. In fact, a recent study funded by Mars™ shows that healthy adults can prevent — and even reverse — age-related memory loss by eating more dark chocolate.
Now, I remember some of my professors in medical school decried any industry-funded research. Instead, they favored the “holy grail” of government research conducted by the National Institutes of Health (NIH). They said only NIH research was objective, and that only NIH did not have a political or economic agenda.
That rationale sounded suspect to me then. And I quickly found out for myself, when I went to work at NIH, that it’s an organization riddled with big and little political agendas and career interests. It is also rife with politically correct pseudo scientists who ignore the facts and the science when it suits them.
Plus, big pharma and big business pollute NIH’s agenda and priorities. At the same time, the agency falls hook, line and sinker for the so-called “progressive” agenda of the loony, intolerant political elites.
Sure — NIH bureaucrats give lip service about the importance of whole health, disease prevention, and natural approaches. But they give these areas the shaft when it comes to actual funding and creating actual medical practice guidelines that protect your health instead of crony capitalist profits.
No wonder many people today think we should finally trim some fat and deadwood from that bloated, distant, elitist government health bureaucracy whose budget had doubled over a 10-year period.
In contrast, I have found some businesses do excellent research. And the Mars Center for Cocoa Health Science is a case in point.
Health benefits keep coming for dark chocolate
Most candy companies base their businesses basically on selling sugar. But it doesn’t have to be that way. Chocolate companies can actually sell something that is good for your health, and makes you feel good, if they do it right. And as I often report, dark chocolate (but not milk chocolate) offers many health benefits.
Of course, Frank Mars made the first chocolate candies in 1911 in his kitchen in Tacoma, Washington. Given the lack of sunlight there, the flavanols in chocolate may have provided some offsetting health benefits.
Mars called his first candy bar “Milky Way” for the galaxy. He moved to the U.K. in 1932, and the company eventually settled in McLean, Virginia. Twenty years ago, I knew his descendant Jackie Mars Vogel in McLean. She was an advocate of natural health even then.
In recent years, the Mars company has been funding some very good research on the health benefits of cocoa flavanols. In fact, over the past 20 years, Mars has sponsored more 140 research studies on the health properties of cacao that were published in peer-reviewed literature. (Good thing we don’t have to count only on the NIH anymore.)
In the Mars-sponsored study that I mentioned earlier, researchers with Columbia University Medical Center in New York provided the first direct evidence that age-related memory decline in humans is caused by changes in specific regions of the brain. Furthermore, they found you can reverse this form of memory decline with a dietary intervention. (And without any of the useless drugs.) Indeed, cocoa flavanols reversed age-related memory decline in healthy older adults.
Age-related memory decline not only affects people with Alzheimer’s disease but almost everyone getting on in years. So — it should be a huge, important area of study.
Of course, in addition to this ground-breaking research by the Mars company, lots of other research has been pouring in showing that other dietary interventions can prevent and reverse Alzheimer’s disease and dementia as well.
I discuss all of these dietary tips as well as many other science-backed strategies for preventing memory loss in my Complete Alzheimer’s Fighting Protocol. You can learn more about this protocol or enroll today by clicking here.
Source:
“Dietary Flavanols Reverse Age-Related Memory Decline,” Columbia University Medical Center (http://newsroom.cumc.columbia.edu) 10/26/2015