A recent study suggests that taking cocoa extract supplements daily could reduce the risk of age-related chronic conditions like heart disease.
Researchers from Mass General Brigham published their findings in the Oxford University medical journal Age and Ageing. They looked at adults who were 60 and older and factored in five different inflammation markers related to age, which are substances in the blood that signal the presence of inflammation in the body.
Heart disease is one of the conditions associated with chronic inflammation, according to Medical News Today.
Blood samples were taken from the participants at the beginning of the study before they started taking cocoa supplements, at the one-year point and two years in. Each participant took 500 milligrams of cocoa extract supplements each day.
Once the study concluded, researchers found that the risk of dying from heart disease among the participants decreased by 27 percent. According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), it is the leading cause of death among men, women and people of most ethnic and racial groups.
“While cocoa extract is not a replacement for a healthy lifestyle, these results are encouraging and highlight its potential role in modulating inflammation as we age,” Yanbin Dong, the senior author of the study, said.
In the future, researchers hope to study whether the supplements can curb more severe cases of inflammation.
