Chocolate lovers, rejoice!

We've already told you how eating chocolate cake for breakfast can help you lose weight. But what if I told you that eating chocolate cake could actually make you smarter?

Yep, that's right.  Frontiers in Nutrition published a new study done by Italian researchers which shows how cocoa flavanols can have positive effects on our cognitive domains. In other words, eating chocolate is good for your brain.

The study focused on a range of ages, as well as both men and women.

For the women, they were deprived of sleep for an entire night in order and then asked to perform cognitive tests the next day. The study found that the women who ate chocolate after a night of no sleep performed the tasks with far more accuracy than those who did not have chocolate.

The results signified that cocoa flavanols activate a part of the brain which can improve cognitive function. This is a promising finding for people who suffer from chronic sleep deprivation or long shifts at work.

Continue reading to find out how eating chocolate can affect your memory as you grow older!

The study looked at prolonged exposure to cocoa flavanols later in life, and the results are extremely positive. Cognitive function is improved with a daily intake of chocolate for elderly individuals.

Factors such as attention, processing speed, working memory, and verbal fluency were all greatly improved thanks to an intake of chocolate every day. The results were most prominent in older adults who were already starting to lose their memory or other cognitive functions.

"Regular intake of cocoa and chocolate could indeed provide beneficial effects on cognitive functioning over time," authors Valentina Socci and Michele Ferrara stated in their work. "There are, however, potential side effects of eating cocoa and chocolate. Those are generally linked to the caloric value of chocolate, some inherent chemical compounds of the cocoa plant such as caffeine and theobromine, and a variety of additives we add to chocolate such as sugar or milk."

Basically, eating a full chocolate bar every day probably isn't a great idea because it's mostly sugar. But that's not to say you don't have options! This is why dark chocolate is the choice memory-saver by the two researchers.

"Dark chocolate is a rich source of flavanols. So we always eat some dark chocolate. Every day."

I guess it's time to stock up on chocolate, then!