Key result
Acute cocoa flavanol supplementation significantly increased m. vastus lateralis microvascular blood volume compared to placebo (P<0.05), without altering leg glucose uptake kinetics.
Why the study?
Ageing is associated with postprandial muscle vascular and metabolic dysfunction, suggesting vascular modifying interventions may be of benefit.
Does acute cocoa flavanol intake improve vascular and metabolic responses to an oral nutritional supplement in healthy older adults?
RCT (n=12)
Does acute cocoa flavanol intake improve vascular and metabolic responses to an oral nutritional supplement in healthy older adults?
p-value: p=<0.05
Acute cocoa flavanol supplementation enhances postprandial microvascular blood volume in skeletal muscle of older adults but does not improve muscle glucose uptake.
Acute cocoa flavanols may enhance postprandial muscle microvascular volume in older adults; leaves open translation to metabolic or clinical benefit.
Ageing is associated with postprandial muscle vascular and metabolic dysfunction, suggesting vascular modifying interventions may be of benefit. Reflecting this, we investigated the impact of acute cocoa flavanol (450–500 mg) intake (versus placebo control) on vascular (via ultrasound) and glucose/insulin metabolic responses (via arterialised/venous blood samples and ELISA) to an oral nutritional supplement (ONS) in twelve healthy older adults (50% male, 72 ± 4 years), in a crossover design study. The cocoa condition displayed significant increases in m. vastus lateralis microvascular blood volume (MBV) in response to feeding at 180 and 240-min after ONS consumption (baseline: 1.00 vs. 180 min: 1.09 ± 0.03, p = 0.05; 240 min: 1.13 ± 0.04, p = 0.002), with MBV at these timepoints significantly higher than in the control condition (p < 0.05). In addition, there was a trend (p = 0.058) for MBV in m. tibialis anterior to increase in response to ONS in the cocoa condition only. Leg blood flow and vascular conductance increased, and vascular resistance decreased in response to ONS (p < 0.05), but these responses were not different between conditions (p > 0.05). Similarly, glucose uptake and insulin increased in response to ONS (p < 0.05) comparably between conditions (p > 0.05). Thus, acute cocoa flavanol supplementation can potentiate oral feeding-induced increases in MBV in older adults, but this improvement does not relay to muscle glucose uptake.
No takes yet. Share an insight, caveat, or question.
Sian et al. (2021) conducted an RCT in Healthy older adults (n=12). Cocoa flavanol vs. Placebo was evaluated on m. vastus lateralis microvascular blood volume (MBV) in response to feeding (p=<0.05). Acute cocoa flavanol supplementation significantly increased m. vastus lateralis microvascular blood volume compared to placebo (P<0.05), without altering leg glucose uptake kinetics.
Synapse has enriched 5 closely related papers on similar clinical questions. Consider them for comparative context: