Who doesn’t love chocolate? (Apparently, my editor’s son hated it for most of his life!) Especially dark chocolate; it’s sweet but not too sweet…just enough in those moments when we really need “just a little something.” Well, if you are a lover of chocolate you’ll be happy to know that a study, published in JAMA Ophthalmology found that consuming it may boost the sharpness and clarity of your vision!
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The study’s lead author, Dr. Jeff Rabin of the University of the Incarnate Word in San Antonio, Texas, used the small, randomized trial “to understand if the beneficial effects seen in blood vessels in the brain and heart might also improve vision. “1
Chocolate contains polyphenol antioxidants called flavanols which are known to lower blood pressure, stabilize cholesterol and lipids, and more importantly- improve blood flow in the brain and heart as we age.
“Rabin and his team recruited 30 healthy young adults (average age of 26) and randomized them to eat either a 1.5-ounce Trader Joe’s 72 percent Cacao Dark Chocolate bar or a similar-sized Trader Joe’s Crispy Rice Milk Chocolate bar (with only about 12% of the flavanol content). The researchers took off the labels from each bar so participants didn’t know what type of chocolate they were eating. While the chocolate may have tasted differently, the participants did not know that dark and milk chocolate were being directly compared as the main focus of the study.
They then went through a battery of vision exams—reading a standard eye chart–within 2 hours. Then, they switched the groups around–making it a “cross-over study”–and 3 days later, the participants ate the other chocolate bar and then repeated the vision exams.”2
Those who ate the dark chocolate saw their vision scores improve for high-contrast visual acuity and contrast sensitivity, specifically small-letter contrast sensitivity.3 So, while the researchers saw improvement in the participant’s vision (p-value (p<.001) in 80% of study subject) the study’s small sample size makes the findings unreliable. This means more study is needed.
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While the authors of the study were encouraged by what they found, they didn’t suggest doctors start prescribing chocolate as a way to improve vision; flavonoids exert protective effects on blood vessels but Vitamin A may also protect against macular degeneration progress. There are still a lot of unknowns.
And, researchers aren’t exactly sure how long the effects of eating chocolate actually last, either. In addition, the population studied would need to be more varied, especially in older patients and in those with retinal diseases.4
Lastly, let’s be clear, the real nutritional value of dark chocolate occurs when it is at least 70% cacao, and preferentially 80% and void of added refined sugar and emulsified fats. We aren’t talking about eating a Mars bar. Not even a “Mars Dark.”
Again, more study is needed. But, who knows. Maybe someday you’ll visit the eye doctor and he will send you home with dark, luscious chocolate instead of glasses!
