Can Red Wine & Dark Chocolate Offset the Effects of a Sedentary Lifestyle?
COMPOUND MIGHT OFFSET SEDENTARY LIFESTYLE
A study has suggested that resveratrol, a compound found in small amounts in cocoa powder, boiled peanuts, and red wine, may offset the negative health effects – such as insulin resistance and loss of bone mass – stemming from a lack of exercise in a sedentary lifestyle.
Resveratrol is an antioxidant substance often reported by the mainstream media to be a major component of red wine; in fact, wine contains only trace amounts. Its cardiovascular health benefits are controversial and the subject of ongoing research.
The researchers tested resveratrol on rats that lived in an environment mimicking the weightless of space, which has negative health effects on astronauts. The rats provided resveratrol managed to avoid the insulin resistance and loss of bone mineral density that affected those sedentary rats not fed resveratrol. (Insulin resistance is linked to diabetes risk.) Resveratrol is found in supplements, which are often made from Japanese knotweed, and in small amounts in cocoa powder, red wine, and boiled peanuts. This study was released June 29, 2011 and will appear in a future issue of The FASEB Journal. It is online now at http://bit.ly/lLx6fj.
How Can Dark Chocolate Help You?
Dark chocolate may combat exercise-induced oxidative stress
Consuming flavonoid-rich dark chocolate prior to exercise may decrease the potential muscle damaging effects of oxidative stress, suggests a new study.
Dark chocolate containing 70% cocoa was associated with blunting oxidative stress after exercise, measured as a reduction in levels of a compound called F2-isoprostane, according to findings published in European Journal of Nutrition.
“We believe that the small effects observed here could be physiologically important, but arise from cocoa-induced metabolic changes leading to modulation of the major plasma constituents,” wrote scientists led by Glen Davison from Aberystwyth University in Wales.
“In addition, dark chocolate was effective at blunting the exercise-induced increase in plasma total antioxidant status observed in the other trials, providing support for the idea that the elevated total antioxidant status on the dark chocolate trial has physiological significance.”
Stress
Oxygen-breathing organisms naturally produce reactive oxygen species (ROS), which play an important role in a range of functions, including cell signalling. However, over production of these ROS from smoking, pollution, sunlight, high intensity exercise, or simply ageing, may overwhelm the body’s antioxidant defences and lead to oxidative stress.
Oxidative stress has been linked to an increased risk of various diseases including cancer, Alzheimer’s, and cardiovascular disease.
The researchers also noted that extended periods of exercise are also often used to model physical stress, and that this may be eased by consumption of a polyphenol-rich dark chocolate.
Choc-full of benefits?
According to their new findings, the effects were seen after only one 100 grams serving of the dark chocolate.
“It is possible, therefore, that greater blunting of oxidative stress responses would be observed with a different timing and/or quantity of dark chocolate ingestion, although this will require further investigation,” wrote the researchers.
The health benefits of polyphenols from cocoa have been gathering increasing column inches in the national media. To date studies have reported potential benefits for cardiovascular health, skin health, and even brain health.
The majority of science into the potential benefits of cocoa have revolved around cardiovascular benefits of the flavanols (also known as flavan-3-ols or catechins), and particularly the monomeric flavanol (-)epicatechin.
Study details
Davison and his co-workers recruited 14 healthy men to participate in their study. Volunteers were asked to consume 100 grams of dark chocolate, a control bar, or nothing. Two hours later they were required to cycle for 2.5 hours at 60 percent of the maximal oxygen uptake level.
Results showed that intake of the dark chocolate resulted in an increase in antioxidant status before the cycling, and reduced levels of F2-isoprostane one hour after the cycling had finished, compared with the control bar.
Insulin levels were also increased before the trial and after cycling for men who consumed the dark chocolate and this was associated with a “better maintenance of plasma glucose concentration”, added the scientists.
On the other hand, there were no changes in markers of immune response, which is known to be affected by rigorous exercise.
“These results with acute dark chocolate consumption are similar to those observed following 2 weeks of daily dark chocolate ingestion,” wrote the researchers.
The other scientists were affiliated with Loughborough University and the University of Newcastle in the UK, and the Nestle Research Center in Lausanne, Switzerland. The study was funded by the Nestle Research Center.
Source: European Journal of Nutrition
“The effect of acute pre-exercise dark chocolate consumption on plasma antioxidant status, oxidative stress and immunoendocrine responses to prolonged exercise”
Authors: G. Davison, R. Callister, G. Williamson, K.A. Cooper, M. Gleeson
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Healthy St. Valentine’s Day
Valentine’s Day could be good for your health.
All you have to do is skip the champagne and oysters and opt for red wine and dark chocolate.
Both red wine, and dark chocolate with a cocoa content of 70% or more, contain resveratrol, which lowers blood sugar and is linked to good health; and potent antioxidants called phenols, which prevent the buildup of plaque in the arteries.
Red wine also provides catechins, which raise HDL (good) cholesterol.
A Bittersweet Solution For High Blood Pressure
A statistical analysis of 15 previous studies has found that people with hypertension, or high blood pressure, can significantly reduce their blood pressure readings by ingesting dark chocolate, due to its high flavanol content.
The flavanols dilate blood vessels thus dropping pressure. The benefit translates to a lowering of the systolic reading – the upper number in your blood pressure reading – by 5 points. That may not seem like much but it is comparable to the blood pressure benefit of 30 minutes of physical activity a day (a reduction of 4-9 points) and over five years, could cut the risk of a cardiovascular event by as much as 20 percent.
However, a reduction in readings was seen only in those with hypertension and not in those with normal readings. Also, the study team questioned the “practicality” of using chocolate or cocoa as a treatment for high blood pressure. Released June 28, ahead of being published in an upcoming issue of the open-access journal BMC Medicine, full details of this study can be read online at: http://bit.ly/aoc9LF.
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