Does dark chocolate intake before high-intensity resistance exercise improve arterial stiffness in healthy young men?
Dark chocolate intake before high-intensity resistance exercise may accelerate the recovery of arterial stiffness compared to white chocolate in healthy young men.
Aims: This study investigated the effect of dark chocolate (DC) intake before resistance exercise (RE) on arterial stiffness. Methods: Twelve healthy adult males (age, 23.0 ± 1.0 years) performed DC or white chocolate (WC) intake trial on separate days in a randomized crossover trials. Participants consumed 50g of DC containing 1285 mg cocoa polyphenols or an isocaloric amount of WC 50g without polyphenols. All participants performed 5 sets of 5 repetitions using 80 % of the 1 repetition maximum (1RM) bench press and 5 sets of 10 repetitions using 70 % of the 1RM biceps curl. Brachial-ankle pulse wave velocity (baPWV), blood pressure, and heart rate were measured before chocolate intake (baseline); and before (at 60 min after chocolate intake), immediately after, and at 30 and 60 min after completing the RE. Results: In both trials, there was a significant increase in baPWV immediately after the RE compared with baseline (baseline: DC 1103 ± 94 cm/s, WC 1108 ± 167 cm/s; immediately after RE: DC 1300 ± 187 cm/s, WC 1325 ± 178 cm/s; P < 0.05). In the DC intake trial, baPWV decreased to 1210 ± 180 cm/s at 30 min and 1155 ± 134 cm/s at 60 min after RE, compared to immediately after RE (P < 0.05). In contrast, in the WC intake trial baPWV was decreased to 1222 ± 176 cm/s at 60 min after RE compared to immediately after RE (P < 0.05). Conclusion: : UMIN000052616.
Hata et al. (2025) studied this question.