Cocoa Might be the Sweetest Way to Offset too Much Sitting

Regular exercising like walking is good for your vascular health. But what you do in-between exercising plays a large role too. Now a new study from the University of Birmingham, in the UK, that was published in the Journal of Physiology suggests that consuming flavanol-rich foods like cocoa can protect vascular health.

Since sedimentary behavior is so prevalent in today’s world from sitting at a desk at work to vegging in front of the TV in the evening, prolonged sitting can take a toll on the functioning of your blood vessels, according to the University of Birmingham in the UK. In fact, It is estimated that young adults in the UK sit for six hours a day and this leads to a decline in vascular function and a 13 percent increase in cardiovascular disease. But what does drinking cocoa have to do with sitting for long periods of time?

Why Flavanols?
It’s all about the flavanols! Flavanols are a natural compound that  have antioxidative, and anti-inflammatory properties, according to Medical News Today. Flavanols are found in foods and drinks like cocoa, grapes, nuts, and tea.

Since previous research had already confirmed that flavanols can help protect people’s cardiovascular system, the scientists at the University of Birmingham wanted to see if using a flavanol-rich food like cocoa could directly impact blood vessels while sitting.

That is what they set out to discover in the new study, according to New Atlas. The researchers tested the theory on 40 healthy men between the ages of 18 and 45. First they measured the men’s peak oxygen consumption (VO2 peak) and 20 were in the high fit category and 20 were considered low fit.

Half of the high fit group were given a cocoa  drink that was high in flavanols and the other half a cocoa drink that was low in flavanols. The same was done for the low fit groups. Afterwards, all the participants were seated for two hours. Afterwards, the researchers measured the participants vascular function in their arms and legs by using a method called bronchial flow

The Results of the Study
The results were a little surprising. While expected for the high-fit participants, the researchers found no decline in all the participants who drank the high-flavanol cocoa.

“Our experiment indicates that higher fitness levels do not prevent the temporary impairment of vascular function induced by sitting when only drinking low-flavanol cocoa,”  study co-author Dr. Sam Lucas, professor of cerebrovascular, exercise & environmental Physiology at the University of Birmingham and co-author of the study, told the university. “Importantly, after the high-flavanol drink, both fitter and less-fit participants kept their FMD [scores] the same as it was before sitting for two hours.”

Since high-flavanol foods benefit blood vessel function regardless of fitness levels, it makes sense to break up periods of sitting with cocoa breaks. If cocoa is not your thing, have a cup of tea instead.