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Cocoa flavanols improve vascular responses to acute mental stress in young healthy adults
It has been demonstrated that mental stress can cause cardiovascular events, perhaps because it has a deleterious effect on vascular function. Human endothelial function and blood pressure (BP) are improved by flavanols, plant-derived polyphenolic chemicals; nevertheless, it is unknown how these substances behave under stress. In this randomized, controlled, double-blind, cross-over study by Baynham et al. (2021), the authors looked at how acute consumption of cocoa flavanols affected alterations in vascular function brought on by stress. Thirty healthy males had a cocoa flavanol beverage 1.5 hours before an 8-minute mental stress test (high flavanol: 150 mg vs. low flavanol < 4 mg (-)-epicatechin). Pre- and post-intervention measurements of forearm blood flow (FBF), blood pressure (BP), and cardiovascular activity were made during stress and at rest. Before the intervention and 30 and 90 minutes after the stress, brachial BP and endothelial function (brachial flow-mediated dilatation, FMD) were assessed. Analysis of the results revealed that, even as FMD was diminished 30 minutes after stress, high-flavanol cocoa slowed this drop and remained noticeably higher than low-flavanol cocoa after 90 minutes following stress. FBF was raised by high-flavanol cocoa both at rest and during stress. Similar cardiovascular and blood pressure responses to stress were seen in both situations. The authors conclude that flavanols are excellent in improving peripheral blood flow and preventing endothelial damage brought on by mental stress. These results support using dietary approaches high in flavanols to safeguard vascular health under stress. [NPID: Mental stress, cocoa flavanols, endothelial function, forearm blood flow]
Year: 2021
