Does cocoa improve cognitive health or mood?

Cocoa has had inconsistent and/or small effects on cognitive function in older adults (e.g., average age of 60) in 2 meta-analyses of 7 to 11 randomized controlled trials. In one meta-analysis, eating dark chocolate for 1 to 6 months improved 2 of 7 outcomes, and it improved visual and language-based executive function (a combination of learning, memory and attention); a majority of the trials were graded as having an overall low risk of bias.^[1][2]