Chocolate and mental performance

Photo by Cacaobug

You might have seen this piece of news about a new study:

Scientists reveal how eating chocolate can help improve your maths
Eating chocolate could improve the brain's ability to do maths, a new study suggests.

I think I have experienced this effect. Whenever I eat several pieces of dark chocolate, it definitely seems (while I do various computer work) that my brain works faster and I'm more alert. I also think that this effect is not because of sugar, because the dark chocolate does not have high amounts and because I definitely don't feel the same if I just ate, say, a sweet apple or a cookie.

I like both chocolate and the "alert" feeling after eating it. I don't like it when I start feeling the "brain drain" (your brain can definitely get tired after several hours of researching/writing emails & blogposts/devising math problems etc.). I don't know if this effect is from flavanols in chocolate like it mentions in the study, or theobromine, or both, or also something else.

The brand I often get here is El Rey. I don't have a clue about its flavanol content; it says it's made with "rare, flavorful, coveted" Venezuelan cacao beans only. But be that as it may, the taste sure IS good!