Many people wonder if taking cocoa supplements can help fight inflammation and prevent diseases that come with aging. A new study suggests the answer might be yes.
Researchers from Mass General Brigham, along with others, looked at people who took cocoa extract supplements every day for a few years.
These supplements are rich in something called cocoa flavanols—tiny, active parts found in cocoa beans, tea, berries, and grapes. These flavanols have been shown in smaller studies to help lower inflammation in the body.
The team wanted to see if this also worked in a large group of older adults. So, they studied data from the COcoa Supplement and Multivitamin Outcomes Study (COSMOS). In this big study, they tracked more than 21,000 people aged 60 and older over several years.
Their focus was on five signs of inflammation in the blood. These markers can tell us if the body has high levels of inflammation, which can be bad for heart health. One marker, called hsCRP, is known to be linked to heart disease.
In people who took the cocoa supplements, hsCRP levels dropped by 8.4% each year, showing less inflammation. This could explain why earlier results from COSMOS showed that cocoa supplements helped lower the number of deaths from heart disease by 27%.
The other four inflammation markers didn’t change much, but there was a small drop in one called IL-6 in women. More studies are needed to fully understand these results.
The researchers say that this study supports the idea that eating more plant-based foods, like cocoa, could help protect your heart. Cocoa products rich in flavanols may be a simple and natural way to fight the slow inflammation that often comes with age, called “inflammaging.”
Even though cocoa extract may not fix all signs of inflammation, the findings are a good reason to keep exploring how food can improve health. The researchers plan to keep studying the COSMOS data to see if cocoa or multivitamins can help with other aging-related health problems.
In summary, the study suggests that taking cocoa supplements may help reduce inflammation in the body and improve heart health as we age. It highlights how powerful plant-based foods can be, especially those rich in natural compounds like flavanols.
The study is published in Age and Ageing.
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