Cocoa vs Biological Aging!

You probably know that chocolate is full of antioxidants, especially flavonoids.

You may well remember: Enjoy Bitter Foods For Your Heart & Brain and, for that matter, Are You Getting The Right Kinds Of Flavonoids?

You probably also know that biological aging (of various kinds) is largely driven by inflammation, which those antioxidants fight.

So, to what degree is the logical conclusion “chocolate is healthy” wishful thinking, and to what degree is it actually as good as it sounds?

Let’s spill the beans

We have written about chocolate before, and its health benefits/myths.

See for example: Chocolate & Health ← one of our earliest mythbusting editions!

And, for that matter: The Truth About Chocolate & Skin Health (which we hadn’t covered previously at the time)

We’ve also tackled chocolate and mental health considerations; see: 12 Foods That Fight Depression & Anxiety and The “Love Drug” ← this one is about phenylethylamine (PEA), an amphetamine-like substance found in chocolate, amongst other sources!

In this latest study, researchers (Dr. Sidong Li et al.) tested cocoa extract supplements in 21,442 adults over 60 as part of the COSMOS trial, focusing on their effect on markers of “inflammaging” (chronic low-grade inflammation linked to aging and cardiovascular disease).

Unlike many studies with such huge participant numbers, this wasn’t an observational study, but actually a huge randomized placebo-controlled trial.

Dr. Li and her team found that daily cocoa extract reduced hsCRP (a key inflammation marker tied to heart disease) by about 8.4% per year compared with placebo, suggesting anti-inflammatory and cardio-protective effects, and also noted that this cocoa extract supplementation reduced cardiovascular mortality by 27%.

So, that’s huge. It’s still not a panacea, though; some other markers (IL-6, TNF-α, IL-10) showed little change overall, though IL-6 decreased slightly in women, while interferon-γ increased, raising new research questions that Dr. Li and her team are eager to explore.

In few words: this very large amount of data, when all’s said and done, supports the value of plant-based, flavanol-rich foods like cocoa, as well as berries, grapes, and tea, in promoting cardiovascular health and reducing inflammatory aging.

You can see the paper itself out in the wild, here: Effects of 2-year cocoa extract supplementation on inflammaging biomarkers in older US adults: findings from the Cocoa Supplement and Multivitamin Outcomes Study randomised clinical trial

Notably, what it does not say is that we should eat chocolate as it is most commonly sold, that is to say, with an astonishing amount of added sugar (which is, obviously, best avoided).

See also: 10 “Healthy” Foods That Are Often Worse Than You Think

Want to get chocolatey?

If you’d like to stock up on cocoa extract supplements, then here’s an example product on Amazon 😎

If you’d like to get the benefits the more traditional way, then here are some chocolate-rich recipes that are actually healthy:

Anti-Inflammatory Brownies | Loaded Mocha Chocolate Parfait 😋

Enjoy!