A nice warm cup of cocoa isn’t only for warming up on a winter day. It benefits your brain. In a study done by Salk Institute for Biological Studies researcher Henriette van Praag and colleagues, a compound found in cocoa, epicatechin, combined with exercise, was found to promote functional changes in a part of the brain involved in the formation of learning and memory. Epicatechin is a flavonol, a group of chemicals that have previously been shown to improve cardiovascular function and increase blood flow to the brain (helping bring nutrition to your gray matter and helping prevent strokes). A recent study by Italian researchers found that among a group of sixty-one-year-olds to eighty-five-year-olds, those who consistently consumed cocoa tested better for attention and memory.