Are there any problems chocolate can’t solve? Previous research has associated chocolate with a lower risk of stroke, improved heart health and exercise performance, and a better mood. Adding to those benefits, a study published in the Journal of Alzheimer’s Disease found that eating chocolate regularly could also decrease the risk of cognitive decline in seniors. The study included 531 participants, aged 65 and over, with normal scores on the Mini-Mental State Examination (MMSE)—a test that measures a person’s cognitive ability. At the beginning of the study, researchers evaluated the participants’ dietary habits, including chocolate consumption, through food-frequency questionnaires and used the MMSE to evaluate their cognitive function. Around four years later, researchers used the MMSE again to evaluate the participants’ risk of having a decline in cognitive function, defined as a decrease of two or more points on the MMSE. After adjusting for gender, age, education, smoking and alcohol habits, body mass index, hypertension, and diabetes, researchers found that:

• Eating an average of three pieces of a chocolate bar, one chocolate snack, or a tablespoon of cocoa powder every week was associated with a 40% lower risk of cognitive decline.
• Notably, chocolate’s protective effects were only observed in participants who consumed 75 mg or less of caffeine daily.

These findings suggest your small chocolate habit may equal brain benefits. Just remember that not all chocolate is created equal: milk chocolate can contain high amounts of calories and sugars, and our bodies can’t absorb beneficial compounds from milk chocolate as well. Therefore, it’s best to stick to small portions of dark chocolate with a cocoa content of 60% or more.

Source: Journal of Alzheimer’s Disease

Adding a few teaspoons of ginger to your cooked fish or veggies every day may be a recipe for heart health. A study found that eating ginger daily reduced the risk of hypertension and coronary heart disease in adults. Published in Nutrition, the study included 4,628 participants, ages 18 to 77. Researchers conducted face-to-face interviews with the participants to collect dietary and health data. They also reviewed the participant’s health records for diagnoses of diabetes, hypertension, coronary heart disease, and other chronic diseases. Researchers then analyzed participants’ data, looking for relationships between ginger intake and the prevalence of chronic diseases, and found:

• In participants between 18 and 60 years old, daily ginger intake was associated with an 8% lower risk of hypertension and a 13% lower risk of coronary heart disease, compared with not eating ginger daily.
• In participants over 60, daily ginger intake was associated with a 16% lower risk of coronary heart disease, but no difference in risk of hypertension.

These findings are early evidence that developing a ginger habit may do your heart good. Previous research has linked ginger to nausea relief, improved blood sugar control, and osteoarthritis relief. If you’d like more ginger in your life, options abound with this versatile root: along with being a stellar fish and veggie topper, it also shines when added to savory soups and sauces and sweet baked goods.

Source: Nutrition

Exercising to beat a cold may seem counterintuitive, but previous research has shown people who exercise get over colds more quickly and have milder symptoms. A study that found mice who exercised had less inflammation and tissue damage after an infection may explain why this is the case. Inflammation is the body’s natural response to fighting infections; however, inflammation also causes tissue damage. Fat cells produce inflammatory chemicals when they enlarge, as they do in obesity, that might also contribute to excess inflammation and tissue damage during an infection. Regular exercise appears to shrink fat cells, resulting in lower levels of these damaging, inflammatory chemicals. For the study, which was published in the journal Scientific Reports, researchers divided 28 male mice into two groups: the first group performed a moderately strenuous swimming exercise for ten minutes, five days a week, for three weeks, while the second group remained sedentary and did not exercise. After this three-week period, researchers infected half of the mice in each group with a drug-resistant S. aureus strain (which causes skin infections and pneumonitis in both mice and people). They then measured specific markers of inflammation in the mice and looked at their inflammation-related lung damage. Here is what they found:

• The exercising mice had lower levels of inflammatory markers circulating in their blood than the sedentary mice.
• The exercising mice infected with S. aureus experienced less of a rise in inflammatory markers in their lungs than the infected sedentary mice.
• Infection with S. aureus caused more lung tissue damage in the sedentary mice than in the exercising mice.

These findings suggest that exercise can reduce inflammation and protect against tissue damage during an infection, perhaps by shrinking fat cells and reducing inflammation in the body. Since this was an animal study, it may not predict the effects of regular exercise on inflammation in humans. However, we all know that exercise provides a bounty of health benefits, so it’s safe to say that getting regular exercise will help you stay healthy in other ways as well.

Source: Scientific Reports

A study published in Gut found evidence that the immune-stimulating properties of vitamin D are associated with a reduced risk of colon cancer. For the study, researchers looked at blood samples from 942 people (taken prior to the onset of cancer) who took part in the Nurses’ Health Study and in the Health Professionals Follow-Up Study, both of which are long-term research projects involving thousands of participants.

Of those 942 people, 318 eventually developed colon cancer, and 624 did not. Researchers hypothesized that, if vitamin D’s effect on the immune system contributed to a reduced risk of colon cancer, people with the highest vitamin D levels would be less likely to develop colon cancers enriched with a large number of immune cells, since those immune cells (partially activated by vitamin D) would help prevent colon cancer from developing. And indeed, this is what they found—high levels of vitamin D were associated with a lower incidence of the types of colon cancer that are most susceptible to an immune response. However, high vitamin D levels did not lower the risk of developing the types of colon cancer that are more resistant to an immune response.

While more research is needed to confirm these results, the study is the first to provide evidence of vitamin D’s potential to prevent colon cancer in actual patients by stimulating the immune system.

Source: Gut

While regular sauna use has been associated with lower blood pressure and other cardiovascular benefits, its effects on specific parameters of heart health have remained murky. Now, a study published in the Journal of Human Hypertension may help clear the air, finding that just one sauna session improved arterial stiffness and blood pressure. For the study, 102 adults with an average age of 51 and at least one cardiovascular risk factor, took a 30-minute dry sauna bath. Before, immediately after, and 30 minutes following the sauna session, researchers measured cardiovascular health markers in the participants, including carotid–femoral pulse wave velocity (an indicator of arterial stiffness), blood pressure, and several blood tests, finding that, on average:

• An increase in heart rate similar to what would be achieved with moderate-intensity exercise and a rise in body temperature of approximately 2º C were recorded during sauna bathing.
• Carotid–femoral pulse wave velocity decreased, indicating reduced arterial stiffness, immediately following the sauna.
• Systolic blood pressure decreased from 137 mmHg before to 130 mmHg immediately following the sauna and remained lower 30 minutes later.
• Diastolic blood pressure dropped from 82 mmHg before to 75 mmHg after the sauna, but had returned to pre-sauna levels 30 minutes later.
• Blood creatinine levels slightly increased following the sauna, while sodium and potassium blood levels remained unchanged. Although the significance of this is unclear, creatinine is produced by active muscles, and is cleared by the kidneys.

The researchers told TIME that raising your body temperature in a sauna could help arteries widen and increase blood flow, which may lower blood pressure. They also pointed out that saunas may help relieve mental and physical stress, both of which contribute to high blood pressure. That being said, more research on this relationship is needed before you can expect a sauna prescription for high blood pressure from your doctor—but if you enjoy regular sauna bathing, the evidence suggests it may be good for your heart.

Source: Journal of Human Hypertension