Adding a little bit cocoa into your cup of coffee can help you concentrate better according to a new study from the University of Clarkson in Georgia. This study compared the influence of four different hot drinks on what they called ‘mental energy’: coffee, cocoa, a mixture of coffee and cocoa and a placebo that did not have any stimulants. All the drinks had an artificial sweetener added to them so that they would have the same taste. The people who drank these drinks did so with closed nostrils in order not to be able to smell the difference between each cup and detect what they were drinking.
Every day of the study the people tested drank one hot drink and were asked to answer questions that could verify the level of their mental energy. The results were that those who drink cocoa gave the fastest answers but those who drank coffee mixed with cocoa gave more accurate answers.
An additional find that is quite interesting to note was that those who drank coffee alone developed feelings of anger. This did not happen to the other people being tested. Drinking coffee alone also increased anxiety. The researchers concluded that adding cocoa to the coffee could increase the positive effects of caffeine and to lower its negative effects.
The researchers said that they will continue their research to understand how chemicals in the drinks work together. Meanwhile they recommend you add a teaspoon of cocoa to your coffee.