title: Metabolic effects of dark chocolate consumption on energy, gut microbiota, and stress-related metabolism in free-living subjects.
abstract: Dietary preferences influence basal human metabolism and gut microbiome activity that in turn may have long-term health consequences. The present study reports the metabolic responses of free living subjects to a daily consumption of 40 g of dark chocolate for up to 14 days. A clinical trial was performed on a population of 30 human subjects, who were classified in low and high anxiety traits using validated psychological questionnaires. Biological fluids (urine and blood plasma) were collected during 3 test days at the beginning, midtime and at the end of a 2 week study. NMR and MS-based metabonomics were employed to study global changes in metabolism due to the chocolate consumption. Human subjects with higher anxiety trait showed a distinct metabolic profile indicative of a different energy homeostasis (lactate, citrate, succinate, trans-aconitate, urea, proline), hormonal metabolism (adrenaline, DOPA, 3-methoxy-tyrosine) and gut microbial activity (methylamines, p-cresol sulfate, hippurate). Dark chocolate reduced the urinary excretion of the stress hormone cortisol and catecholamines and partially normalized stress-related differences in energy metabolism (glycine, citrate, trans-aconitate, proline, beta-alanine) and gut microbial activities (hippurate and p-cresol sulfate). The study provides strong evidence that a daily consumption of 40 g of dark chocolate during a period of 2 weeks is sufficient to modify the metabolism of free living and healthy human subjects, as per variation of both host and gut microbial metabolism.
authors.affiliation: Nestle Research Center, Vers-chez-les-Blanc, CH-1000 Lausanne 26, Switzerland.
authors.forename: Francois-Pierre J
authors.initials: FP
authors.lastname: Martin
authors.forename: Serge
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Rezzi
authors.forename: Emma
authors.initials: E
authors.lastname: Peré-Trepat
authors.forename: Beate
authors.initials: B
authors.lastname: Kamlage
authors.forename: Sebastiano
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Collino
authors.forename: Edgar
authors.initials: E
authors.lastname: Leibold
authors.forename: Jürgen
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Kastler
authors.forename: Dietrich
authors.initials: D
authors.lastname: Rein
authors.forename: Laurent B
authors.initials: LB
authors.lastname: Fay
authors.forename: Sunil
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Kochhar
mesh_terms: D000293:Adolescent; D000328:Adult; D001007:Anxiety / Q000188:drug therapy / Q000378:metabolism*; D001769:Blood; D002099:Cacao / Q000378:metabolism*; D004734:Energy Metabolism / Q000187:drug effects*; D005260:Female; D006728:Hormones / Q000378:metabolism; D006801:Humans; D007422:Intestines / Q000382:microbiology*; D008297:Male; D055442:Metabolome / Q000187:drug effects; D055432:Metabolomics; D054892:Metagenome / Q000187:drug effects*; D013312:Stress, Physiological / Q000187:drug effects; D014556:Urine / Q000737:chemistry; D055815:Young Adult
chemical_list: D006728:Hormones