Daily Times

Coffee, for most people around the globe, is an essential apparatus to help kickstart the day.

It is a cup for all seasons and without their favourite brew, the day seems incomplete.

Known for its high caffeine content, coffee has often been on the list of ‘things to avoid’ given to us by dieticians and health and fitness experts.

Even though many studies in the past have shown coffee to contain numerous health benefits like weight loss, improvement in physical performance, reduction in risk of diabetes, protection from Alzheimer’s and dementia, among others.

So, we’re sure this will come as good news for all you coffee lovers out there, because a new study has found that coffee, which is a flavour preference for many people, along with another people’s favourite – chocolate – could spell magic for your attention span.

The study has claimed that a cup of coffee, brewed along with chocolate could help enhance your attentiveness.

Researchers, including those from University of Georgia in the US, studied the acute effects of brewed cocoa consumption on attention, motivation to perform cognitive work and feelings of anxiety, energy and fatigue.

“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!” said Ali Boolani of Clarkson University in the US.

Participants were made to consume brewed cocoa, cocoa with caffeine, caffeine without cocoa, and a placebo with neither caffeine nor cocoa.

They were then asked to do tests to evaluate both cognitive tasks and mood.

Participants were asked to watch as letters flashed across a screen and note when an ‘X’ appeared after an ‘A.’

They also had to point out when odd numbers appeared sequentially, and they were required to do subtraction. “The results of the tests are definitely promising and show that cocoa and caffeine are good choices for students and anyone else who needs to improve sustained attention,” said Boolani.

The study was published in the journal BMC Nutrition.