A new Columbia University study finds that a component of cocoa may assist in reversing memory loss that occurs during the normal aging process.

The university specifically targets flavanols, and involved 37 healty individuals between the ages of 50 and 69 years old, according to a report from TIME Magazine.

The study evaluated both groups with memory test and brain scans at the beginning, and then again three months after some of the group took a high amount of flavanols. Those that took a high amount of flavanols showed much improvement in visual memory, performing like someone just 30 years old.

Scott Small, professor of neurology at Columbia’s Taub Institute for Research on Alzheimer’s Disease and the Aging Brain, led the study along with his colleague Adam Brickman. He said the study tests the ability to form new memories as opposed to a person’s ability to recall information from the past.

The tests involved with the study included having participatings look at a series of abstract shapes to determine whether a set of squiggly lines was similar or different that a recently presented one. Researchers know that aging individuals tend to have difficulty with this test.

The research team also examined the participants in a functional magnetic resonance (fMRI) scanner to examine a section of the brain called the dentate gyrus that plays an important role in memory. The fMRI studies corroborated the test results, as those who took a high level of flavanol showed more blood in that region than those who did not.