In a new study, researchers found that increased consumption of flavanols—a group of molecules in fruit and vegetables—could protect people from mental stress-induced stroke, heart disease and thrombosis.
They that blood vessels were able to function better during mental stress when people were given a cocoa drink containing high levels of flavanols.
The research was conducted by a team at the University of Birmingham.
It is known that mental stress can have a negative effect on blood vessel function.
In the study, the team examined the effects of cocoa flavanols on stress-induced changes on vascular function.
A group of healthy men drank a high-flavanol cocoa beverage 90 minutes before completing an eight-minute mental stress task.
The researchers measured forearm blood flow and cardiovascular activity at rest and during stress and assessed the functioning of the blood vessels up to 90 min post-stress.
They found that blood vessel function was less impaired when the participants drank high-flavanol cocoa. The researchers also found that flavanols improve blood flow during stress.
The team says mental stress induces immediate increases in heart rate and blood pressure (BP) in healthy adults and also results in temporary impairments in the function of arteries even after the episode of stress has ceased.
The new findings suggest that drinking flavanol-rich cocoa can be an effective dietary strategy to reduce temporary impairments following mental stress and also improve blood flow.
People should eat a variety of foods rich in flavanols—particularly apples, black grapes, blackberries, cherries, raspberries, pears, pulses, green tea and unprocessed cocoa in their diets.
The study is published in Nutrients. One author of the study is Dr. Catarina Rendeiro.
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