Dietary Cocoa Flavanols Do Not Alter Brain Excitability in Young Healthy Adults.

Publisher: MDPI Publishing Country of Publication: Switzerland NLM ID: 101521595 Publication Model: Electronic Cited Medium: Internet ISSN: 2072-6643 (Electronic) Linking ISSN: 20726643 NLM ISO Abbreviation: Nutrients Subsets: MEDLINE

Original Publication: Basel, Switzerland : MDPI Publishing

Catechin*/pharmacology ; Chocolate* ; Cacao*; Humans ; Aged ; Food ; Brain ; Polyphenols

The ingestion of dietary cocoa flavanols acutely alters functions of the cerebral endothelium, but whether the effects of flavanols permeate beyond this to alter other brain functions remains unclear. Based on converging evidence, this work tested the hypothesis that cocoa flavanols would alter brain excitability in young healthy adults. In a randomised, cross-over, double-blinded, placebo-controlled design, transcranial magnetic stimulation was used to assess corticospinal and intracortical excitability before as well as 1 and 2 h post-ingestion of a beverage containing either high (695 mg flavanols, 150 mg (-)-epicatechin) or low levels (5 mg flavanols, 0 mg (-)-epicatechin) of cocoa flavanols. In addition to this acute intervention, the effects of a short-term chronic intervention where the same cocoa flavanol doses were ingested once a day for 5 consecutive days were also investigated. For both the acute and chronic interventions, the results revealed no robust alteration in corticospinal or intracortical excitability. One possibility is that cocoa flavanols yield no net effect on brain excitability, but predominantly alter functions of the cerebral endothelium in young healthy adults. Future studies should increase intervention durations to maximize the acute and chronic accumulation of flavanols in the brain, and further investigate if cocoa flavanols would be more effective at altering brain excitability in older adults and clinical populations than in younger adults.

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Postdoctoral Scholarship Fonds de Recherche du Québec - Nature et Technologies; Multi PhD Award Dunhill Medical Trust

Keywords: brain excitability; cocoa flavanols; corticospinal excitability (CSE); corticospinal silent period (CSP); intracortical facilitation (ICF); long intracortical inhibition (LICI); paired-pulse transcranial magnetic stimulation (ppTMS); short intracortical facilitation (SICF); short intracortical inhibition (SICI)

8R1V1STN48 (Catechin)
0 (Polyphenols)

Date Created: 20240413 Date Completed: 20240415 Latest Revision: 20240430

20240501

PMC11013095

10.3390/nu16070969

38613003