Beiruting News

"Chocolate makes you smarter, proves 40-year study," claims the Daily Express. The news is based on research which found that people who ate chocolate at least once a week performed better in brain tests.
The researchers incorporated a new questionnaire into the sixth wave of their data collection, which spanned the five years between 2001 and 2006 (there have been seven waves in all, each conducted in five-year intervals). The questionnaire gathered all sorts of information about the dietary habits of the participants. And the dietary habits of the participants revealed an interesting pattern.
"We found that people who eat chocolate at least once a week tend to perform better cognitively," said Elias. "It's significant - it touches a number of cognitive domains."
Researchers, who conducted the long-term study of about 1,000 people from 2001 to 2006, could not specifically say why chocolate does a brain good, but suggested its cocoa flavanols somehow are at play, as are methylxanthines, plant-produced compounds known to enhance a variety of bodily functions.