It may not be long until the days when parents will actually ask their children to eat their chocolate. A new study at the University of Reading found that dark chocolate that contains cocoa flavanols has a positive effect on eyesight and may help people with poor vision improve eyesight naturally.
Flavanols are phytonutrient compounds that are found naturally in apples, grapes, tea, cocoa and cherries. The results of the study showed that cocoa flavanols improved visual contrast sensitivity and reduced the time required to detect motion direction. Because cocoa flavanols in known to improve blood circulation and increase blood flow, researchers think that increased visual sharpness and motion detection are due to the increases blood flow to the retina of the eye.
The study was performed among 30 healthy young adults. They were asked to eat both dark chocolate containing 720 mg cocoa flavanols and the matching quantity of white chocolate. A vision examination, performed two hours later, revealed 13% improvement of their vision.
The vision evaluation of the test subjects included contrast and motion sensitivity vision tests. Visual contrast sensitivity was assessed by reading numbers that became progressively more similar in luminance to their background. Visual motion sensitivity was assessed by measuring the threshold proportion of coherently moving signal dots that could be detected against a background of random motion, and by determining the minimum time required to detect motion direction in a display containing a high proportion of coherent motion.
Because visual contrast and motion detection capabilities of the eye typically start to decline with age, further studies will be aimed at determining flavanol effect on older people, and will look at other high flavanol foods such as blueberries, wine and green tea.
“This aspect falls off quite rapidly after age 60. It’s why older people will give up night driving first. My aunt who lives in Vancouver has done that. In extreme cases, older people will suffer a fall because they can’t tell the curb from the sidewalk.” said study author David Field for the Star.
So, which chocolate can improve eyesight naturally? David Field and his team used special dark chocolate powder produced by Barry Callebaut that is high in flavanols. If you want to enjoy a tasty treat and clearer vision you can go for the same chocolate used in the study or any type of dark chocolate.
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