Flavinoid in cocoa could help rebuild skeletal muslce in heart failure, diabetes patients

Maybe there is another good reason for most of us to love chocolate, especially the dark variety. A new study reports that treatment with epicatechin-enriched cocoa, a flavonoid in dark chocolate, showed improvement in the mitochondria of skeletal muscles after that mitochrondia had been damaged by the effects of Type 2 diabetes and heart failure.  Mitochondia are structures responsible for most of the energy produced in our cells.   In a small clinical trial at the University of California at San Diego, researchers found that patients with advanced heart failure and type 2 diabetes showed improved mitochondrial structure after three months of treatment with epicatechin-enriched cocoa. As a result of their diseases, these five patients had experienced significant damage to skeletal muscle mitochondria before treatment.  These "fuel cells"  had become dysfunctional as a result of both diseases, leading to abnormalities in skeletal muscle.  The patients suffered from shortness of breath, lack of energy and inability to walk longer distances.

The trial participants ate dark chocolate bars and a beverage with a total epicatechin content of about  100 mg per day for three months. After three months of treatment, the researchers looked at changes in mitochondria volume and the abundance of cristae, which are internal compartments of mitochondria that are necessary for efficient function of the mitochondria, and measurable by electron microscopy.  Before treament, these cristae had been severely damaged, the researchers said, but after threatment a recovery was seen and cristae numbers were returned to almost  normal levels.  The researchers also saw increases in several molecular indicators involved in new mitochondria production.

The study appears this week in the journal Clinical and Translational Science (Volume 5, Issue 1, February 2012, Pages: 43–47).  The researchers said they will conduct a larger study to see if the cocoa flavinoid can help improve exercise capacity in similar patients.

If you occasionally indulge in a square of dark chocolate, perhaps you don't have to feel guilty, after all. You may be feeding your skeletal muscles.