Type the word ‘superfood,’ into a web browser and you'll be
overwhelmed: some websites even maintain that dark chocolate can have
beneficial effects. But take a closer look at the science underpinning these
claims, and you'll discover just how sparse it is. So, when University of
Calgary undergraduate Lee Fruson became curious about how dietary factors might
affect memory, Ken Lukowiak was sceptical. ‘I didn't think any of this stuff
would work’, Lukowiak recalls. Despite his misgivings, Lukowiak and Fruson
decided to concentrate on a group of compounds – the flavinoids – found in a
wide range of ‘superfoods’ including chocolate and green tea, focusing on one
particular flavonoid, (-)epicatechin (epi). However, figuring out how a single
component of chocolate might improve human memory is almost impossible – too
many external factors influence memory formation – so Lukowiak turned to his
favourite animal, the pond snail Lymnaea stagnalis, to find out whether the
dark chocolate flavonoid could improve their memories (p. 3566).
journal reference (full text free): experimentel biology>>