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 Flavonol-rich dark chocolate and unprocessed cocoa, similar to
unsweetened cocoa powder used for baking, have been linked to
improved blood flow and increased walking ability in a small number
of preliminary studies in animals and humans.
For this small study, researchers wanted to see if cocoa might
benefit people with peripheral artery disease (PAD), a condition
caused by hardening arteries that reduces blood flow in the legs and
makes walking even short distances painful.
"Few therapies are available for improving walking performance in
people with PAD," said lead study author Dr. Mary McGrae McDermott
of Northwestern University in Chicago.
Researchers asked 44 older adults with PAD to drink a chocolate
flavored beverage three times daily for six months – half of them
got flavonol-rich cocoa and half did not.
In six-minute walking tests, people in the cocoa group went 18.4
meters (60.4 feet) further at the end of the study than they did at
the beginning. An improvement of at least 12 meters can make a
meaningful difference in patients' daily lives, researchers note in
Circulation Research.
Walking ability typically declines over time for people with PAD.
Without cocoa, participants walked 24.2 meters (79.4 feet) less in
six-minute tests at the end of the study.
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Even though participants were not told whether they drank real cocoa
or a substitute, it is possible they tasted the difference and that
this impacted the results, said Dr. Joseph Ladapo, a researcher at
the University of California Los Angeles who was not involved in the
study.
"Exercise is obviously not as attractive or sexy as cocoa, but it's
inexpensive, more beneficial, and doesn't come with harmful calories
or sugars," Ladapo said.
Most store-bought chocolate bars and hot cocoa mixes are processed
to remove bitterness, which also reduces flavonols, said Samantha
Heller, a nutritionist at New York University Langone Health who was
not involved in the study.
"To maximize the health benefits of cocoa, you can make your own hot
cocoa by using unsweetened cocoa powder," Heller said.
The Hershey Company supplied cocoa for the study and Mars Inc.
contributed to the analysis.
SOURCE: Circulation Research, published online Feb. 14, 2020.
(Reporting by Lisa Rapaport; Editing by Janet Lawrence)
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