title: Habitual cocoa intake reduces arterial stiffness in postmenopausal women regardless of intake frequency: a randomized parallel-group study.
abstract: Arterial stiffness is substantially higher in postmenopausal than in premenopausal women. Daily cocoa intake has been shown to reduce central arterial stiffness in health adults, regardless of age; however, the effect of cocoa-intake frequency on arterial stiffness in postmenopausal women remains unclear. Therefore, the purpose of this study was to investigate the effects of cocoa-intake frequency on arterial stiffness in postmenopausal women. A total of 26 postmenopausal women (mean age ± standard deviation 64±12 years) were randomly assigned to two groups with different cocoa-intake frequencies: one group ingested 17 g of cocoa once daily except on Sundays (every-day group, n=13), and the other ingested 17 g of cocoa twice daily every other day (every-other-day group, n=13). These intake regimens were maintained in both groups for 12 weeks. Carotid-femoral pulse-wave velocity and femoral-ankle pulse-wave velocity were measured in both groups at baseline and again at the end of the 12-week study period. Compared to baseline, both pulse-wave velocities had significantly decreased after the 12-week study period in both groups (P<0.05). However, no significant difference in degree of change was observed between the two groups. Although this study did not include a sedentary control group, these results suggest that regardless of frequency, habitual cocoa intake reduces central and peripheral arterial stiffness in postmenopausal women.
authors.affiliation: Department of Exercise Physiology, Nippon Sport Science University, Tokyo, Japan.
authors.forename: Takanobu
authors.initials: T
authors.lastname: Okamoto
authors.affiliation: Department of Exercise Physiology, Nippon Sport Science University, Tokyo, Japan.
authors.forename: Ryota
authors.initials: R
authors.lastname: Kobayashi
authors.affiliation: Food Sciences Research Laboratories, Meiji Co Ltd, Kanagawa, Japan.
authors.forename: Midori
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Natsume
authors.affiliation: Department of Exercise Physiology, Nippon Sport Science University, Tokyo, Japan.
authors.forename: Koichi
authors.initials: K
authors.lastname: Nakazato
mesh_terms: D000368:Aged; D001794:Blood Pressure; D000069956:Chocolate; D019332:Endothelin-1 / Q000097:blood; D005260:Female; D064368:Healthy Volunteers; D006801:Humans; D007564:Japan; D008875:Middle Aged; D017698:Postmenopause; D063177:Pulse Wave Analysis; D012307:Risk Factors; D059289:Vascular Stiffness
chemical_list: D019332:Endothelin-1
keywords: endothelin 1; flavanol-enriched cocoa; intake frequency; pulse-wave velocity