Cocoa may protect males’ hearts from the effects of mental stress

Stressful events — such as sitting an exam, giving a presentation, or attending a job interview — temporarily increase heart rate and blood pressure and dilate arteries.

This is a normal part of the body’s “fight-or-flight” response, but the lining of blood vessels, known as the endothelium, can take up to 90 minutes to recover after this kind of stress.

This may help to explain why a single episode of stress temporarily increases the risk of an acute cardiovascular event, such as a heart attack.

On the other hand, experts know that eating a diet rich in fruits and vegetables reduces a person’s risk of cardiovascular disease, heart attacks, and cardiovascular mortality.

Among the healthy nutrients found in fruits and vegetables are polyphenolic compounds known as flavanols. In the long term, these improve endothelial function and lower blood pressure.

The effects of flavanols during stress and in its immediate aftermath are unknown, however.

Scientists at the University of Birmingham in the United Kingdom have conducted the first study to investigate this question.

Their research suggests that drinking cocoa, which is rich in flavanols, in the hours before a stressful event can improve blood flow during the experience and help restore endothelial function in males aged under 45 years old afterward.

“Our findings are significant for everyday diet, given that the daily dosage administered could be achieved by consuming a variety of foods rich in flavanols — particularly apples, black grapes, blackberries, cherries, raspberries, pears, pulses, green tea, and unprocessed cocoa,” says senior author Dr. Catarina Rendeiro, Ph.D., of the university’s School of Sport, Exercise and Rehabilitation Sciences.

“This has important implications for measures to protect the blood vessels of those individuals who are more vulnerable to the effects of mental stress,” she adds.

The research, conducted by postgraduate student Rosalind Baynham, appears in the journal Nutrients.

Stress tests

The scientists recruited 30 healthy males between 18 and 45 years who underwent tests at the lab on two separate occasions at least 7 days apart.

The research involved them fasting for 12 hours before each session and abstaining from alcohol, vigorous exercise, and polyphenol-rich food and drink for 24 hours beforehand.

At the start of each visit, while the participants were relaxed, researchers assessed their “brachial flow-mediated dilatation,” which is a measure of endothelial function.

They also measured their blood pressure, heart rate, and blood flow.

On one of these visits, the participants drank regular cocoa, which is rich in flavanols, and on the other visit, they drank a special cocoa drink that was low in flavanols.

About 90 minutes later, they took a competitive test of mental arithmetic designed to elicit stress.

For example, during the test, the researchers filmed the participants, and they had to watch their performance on a screen. The researchers told the participants that “body language assessors” would assess them.

The arithmetic task got progressively faster, and the participants lost points whenever they got an answer wrong.

An experimenter in the room marked their responses and sounded an alarm when they made a mistake, or once every 10 answers if they did not.

At 30 and 90 minutes after the stress test, the researchers remeasured the participants’ endothelial function and blood pressure.

The results showed that 30 minutes after the stress test, all participants had impaired endothelial function. This measure remained significantly higher 90 minutes after the stress test.

However, participants who drank the high-flavanol cocoa saw smaller declines in endothelial function than those who consumed the low-flavanol cocoa.

In addition, high-flavanol cocoa increased blood flow during and after the test compared with low-flavanol cocoa.

Other cardiovascular and blood pressure measures were similar for both conditions.

Source:medicalnewstoday.com

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