Polyphenols are found naturally in plants and are a basic component of the human diet. These compounds have been shown to reduce oxidative stress which is associated with many diseases<\/strong>. They may also have beneficial psychological effects.<\/p>\n “Anecdotally, chocolate is often linked to mood enhancement,” Swinburne PhD candidate and lead author of the study Matthew Pase said.<\/p>\n “This clinical trial is perhaps the first to scientifically demonstrate the positive effects of cocoa polyphenols on mood.”<\/p>\n Seventy-two healthy men and women aged 40-65 years took part in the randomised study to receive a dark chocolate drink mix standardised to contain either 500 mg of cocoa polyphenols, 250 mg of cocoa polyphenols or 0 mg of cocoa polyphenols<\/strong>. The drink mixes were given to participants in identical packaging so that both the investigators and participants were unaware of which treatment they were receiving.<\/p>\n Participants drank their assigned drink once a day for 30 days.<\/p>\n After 30 days, those who drank the high dose concentration of cocoa polyphenols reported greater calmness and contentedness<\/strong> than those who drank either of the other drink mixes.<\/p>\n The researchers failed to find any evidence that cocoa polyphenols significantly improved cognitive performance<\/strong>. Additionally, only those who consumed the highest amount of polyphenols (500 mg per day) reported any significant positive effects. Participants who consumed a moderate amount (250 mg per day) reported no significant effects.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/blockquote>\n The research is published in the May issue of the Journal of Psychopharmacology<\/em>. From the Swinburne University of Technology press release via HealthCanal: New research from Swinburne University of Technology has found that the polyphenols in dark chocolate increase calmness and contentedness. Polyphenols… Read more »<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":5,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[5,10],"tags":[208,31,207,39],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/therapytoronto.ca\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/12787"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/therapytoronto.ca\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/therapytoronto.ca\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/therapytoronto.ca\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/5"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/therapytoronto.ca\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=12787"}],"version-history":[{"count":5,"href":"https:\/\/therapytoronto.ca\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/12787\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":12838,"href":"https:\/\/therapytoronto.ca\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/12787\/revisions\/12838"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/therapytoronto.ca\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=12787"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/therapytoronto.ca\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=12787"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/therapytoronto.ca\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=12787"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}![\"mug](\"http:\/\/therapytoronto.ca\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2013\/01\/mug_hot_chocolate.jpg\")
New research from Swinburne University of Technology has found that the polyphenols in dark chocolate increase calmness and contentedness.<\/strong><\/p>\n
\nThe study was funded by Barry Callebaut.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"