This is extremely promising
because it isolates clear cellular improvement that is easily measured. Obviously we all need to include a lot of
chocolate in our diets. The problem is
to not include the sugars and the fats.
To this end, I have begun shaking
cocoa into my tea as a matter of course as that is how I hydrate myself
anyway. Enhanced product is hardly on
the market yet, but it looks to be there sooner than later. The benefits are too
valuable.
Someone is going to have to
produce a spice and cocoa combination that delivers the many known nutrients
that these individual items are noted for.
It has to be done well.
Released: 3/2/2012 11:20 AM EST
Improvements seen in patients with heart failure and type 2 diabetes in
initial study
Newswise — A small clinical trial led by researchers at UC San Diego School of Medicine and VA San Diego Healthcare System (VASDHS) found that patients with advanced heart failure and type 2 diabetes showed improved mitochondrial structure after three months of treatment with epicatechin-enriched cocoa. Epicatechin is a flavonoid found in dark chocolate.
The results of this initial study has led to the implementation of
larger, placebo-controlled clinical trial at UC San Diego School of Medicine
and VASDHS to assess if patients with heart failure and diabetes show
improvement in their exercise capacity when treated with epicatechin-rich
cocoa.
The study published this week by the journal Clinical and
Translational Science looked at five profoundly ill patients with major
damage to skeletal muscle mitochondria. Mitochondria are structures responsible
for most of the energy produced in cells. These “fuel cells” are
dysfunctional as a result of both type 2 diabetes and heart failure, leading
to abnormalities in skeletal muscle. In patients with heart failure and
diabetes abnormalities in both the heart and skeletal muscle result in impaired
functional capacity. These patients often complain of shortness of breath, lack
of energy and have difficulty walking even short distances.
The trial participants consumed dark chocolate bars and a beverage with
a total epicatechin content of approximately 100 mg per day for three months.
Biopsies of skeletal muscle were conducted before and after treatment. After
the three-month treatment, the researchers looked at changes in mitochondria
volume and the abundance of cristae, which are internal compartments of
mitochondria that are necessary for efficient function of the mitochondria, and
measurable by electron microscopy.
“The cristae had been severely damaged and decreased in quantity in
these patients,” said one of the senior investigators, Francisco J. Villarreal,
MD, PhD of UC San Diego’s Department of Medicine’s Division of Cardiology. “After
three months, we saw recovery – cristae numbers back toward normal levels, and
increases in several molecular indicators involved in new mitochondria
production.”
The results, which mimicked earlier studies showing improvement in
skeletal and heart muscle function in animal models after treatment with
epicatechin, were promising enough to prompt the larger study.
The principal investigator of this trial was Pam R. Taub, MD, assistant
professor of medicine at UC San Diego and the VA San Diego Healthcare System.
Taub will be leading the new clinical trial at UC San Diego
Patients who would like more information about the clinical trial can
call 858-552-8585, extension 3866.
Additional contributors to the published study include Israel
Ramirez-Sanchez, PhD, Theodore P. Ciaraldi, PhD, Alan S. Maisel, MD, and Robert
R. Henry, MD, UC San Diego School of Medicine and VA San Diego Health System;
Guy Perkins, PhD, Anne N. Murphy, PhD, Robert Naviaux, MD, PhD and Michael
Hogan, PhD, UC San Diego School of Medicine; and Guillermo Ceballos, MD, PhD,
Escuela Superior de Medicina del Instituto Politécnico Nacional, Mexico City.
The study was supported in part by grants from the National Institutes
of Health, American College of Cardiology and The Hershey Company.
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