Science has at last given us a reason to drink mochas
If you’re big fan of chocolate and coffee, the scientific community has some pretty awesome news coming your way. According to a double-blind study conducted in Clarkson University, the combination of cocoa and caffeine improves sustained attention. After all this time science, has at last given us a reason to drink mochas! Let the rejoicing in the streets begin!
In the event that you want to send a thank you basket to someone for this wonderful news, make sure to address it to researcher Ali Boolani. He along with colleagues from another university examined the “acute effects of brewed cocoa consumption on attention, motivation to perform cognitive work and feelings of anxiety, energy and fatigue.”
Here’s what the genius researchers discovered about coffee and cocoa.
In a year-long double-blind study, subjects were asked to consume “brewed cocoa, cocoa with caffeine, caffeine without cocoa, and a placebo with neither caffeine nor cocoa.” In addition to enjoying the beverages, obviously, test subjects participated in attention testing. One of the tests asked the participants to note when an “X” appeared after an “A” on screen. They also had to do some basic math. And the results were surprising.
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Tasty. We mean the results were tasty!
According to Ali Boolani, the study was not only scientific — it was fun! And the results are really fun for any chocoholic out there.
"Cocoa increases cerebral blood flow, which increases cognition and attention. Caffeine alone can increase anxiety. This particular project found that cocoa lessens caffeine's anxiety-producing effects — a good reason to drink mocha lattes!"
Who would have guessed that the combination of cocoa and caffeine could both calm anxiety AND boost cognition? If you are a student looking to bust out a paper, drinking mochas at your local coffee shop might be your best bet (besides, you know, preparation, etc.)
Of course, something to keep in mind is that The Hershey Company was the one that sponsored this study. It doesn’t mean that the research results aren’t true, it just means that you should take everything with a grain of salt. And a tablespoon of cocoa powder. And a cup of joe.
