Cocoa may enhance skeletal muscle function

Cocoa may enhance skeletal muscle function

Healthy Dark Chocolate

"More evidence that dark chocolate is good for you" says London Nutrition expert Yvonne Bishop-Weston (with a smile)

Dark Chocolate Flavanoids good for bones and heart


A 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 results, which mimicked earlier studies showing improvement in skeletal and heart muscle function

University of California, San Diego Health Sciences (2012, March 2). Cocoa may enhance skeletal muscle function. ScienceDaily.

Pam R. Taub, Israel Ramirez-Sanchez, Theodore P. Ciaraldi, Guy Perkins, Anne N. Murphy, Robert Naviaux, Michael Hogan, Alan S. Maisel, Robert R. Henry, Guillermo Ceballos, Francisco Villarreal. Alterations in Skeletal Muscle Indicators of Mitochondrial Structure and Biogenesis in Patients with Type 2 Diabetes and Heart Failure: Effects of Epicatechin Rich Cocoa. Clinical and Translational Science, 2012; 5 (1): 43 DOI:

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