http://www.delish.com/food/recalls-reviews/dark-chocolate-improves-physical-endurance-study-ucsd?gt1=47001Last month we learned that drinking red wine may help prevent bone loss and muscle atrophy.
http://www.delish.com/food/recalls-reviews/red-wine-could-have-the-same-effects-as-exerciseThis month brings equally welcome news: chocolate can help boost endurance.
Yep, you read that right. Although previous studies have linked moderate consumption of dark chocolate to lower rates of high blood pressure and other cardiovascular risks, a new study out of the University of California, San Diego, finds that chocolate may also improve athletic stamina.
As reported last week by the New York Times Well blog, scientists at UCSD fed a group of middle-aged, inactive male mice a twice-daily dose of purified liquid epicatechin, the flavanol that is cacao's primary nutritional ingredient. A control group was given equal doses of water. Each group of mice was then divided in half, with one half of each group taking light daily strolls on the treadmill, while the other half of each group remained sedentary. At the end of 15 days, all of the mice took a treadmill test, running to the point of exhaustion. The study found that the animals that had been given water throughout the study grew tired more quickly than those that had been given epicatechin. Even the mice that had trained with daily treadmill exercise but were given water showed less endurance than those mice that had received no training but had been given the twice-daily doses of epicatechin. The rodent champions were those that had received daily work outs and the purified epicatechin. On average, they were able to run 50 percent further than the control group.
After the treadmill test, the scientists biopsied the animals' leg muscles and found that the muscles of the epicatechin group contained new capillaries and evidence of new mitochondria — more mitochondria indicates a healthier muscle that is less susceptible to fatigue.
While those mice that were on the epicatechin and exercise regimen showed more mitochondrial growth than those that had just received epicatechin (and both substantially more than the control group), even those that received the flavanol without exercising showed increased mitochondrial activity. The study's conclusion was that the muscles of the mice had responded to the epicatechin with "structural and metabolic changes in skeletal and cardiac muscles resulting in greater endurance capacity."
The Times stresses, however, that the flavanol's effect on people may be different and that milk chocolate won't do the job since processing destroys the cacao's epicatechin. Sadly, going on an all dark chocolate diet won't win you any marathons. "A very small amount is probably enough," Dr. Francisco Villarreal, professor of medicine at UCSD and one of the study's authors, told the Times. Based on what they saw in the mice, an equivalent human serving would be just five grams a day, or a half of one square of a standard dark chocolate bar.
