Tsang, Catherine and Hodgson, Lindsay and Bussu, Anna and Farhat, Grace and Al-Dujaili, Emad (2019) Effect of Polyphenol-Rich Dark Chocolate on Salivary 3 Cortisol and Mood in Adults. Antioxidants. ISSN 2076-3921
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Abstract
The aim of the present study was to investigate whether ingestion of polyphenol-rich dark chocolate improved salivary cortisol levels and subjective mood states in adults recruited from a health and social care setting. Twenty-six participants ingested 25 g/day of a high polyphenol dark chocolate (containing 500 mg of total flavonoids), or a similar amount of a control dark chocolate, containing negligible flavonoids, for 4-weeks. Twenty-four hour salivary glucocorticoid levels (cortisol and cortisone) were measured by an enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay, and subjective mood was assessed using a validated positive affect and negative affect schedule. Total daily cortisol, morning cortisol, and the cortisol/cortisone ratio, were significantly reduced (p<0.001), after ingestion of the high polyphenol dark chocolate only. There were no significant differences between groups for overall scores for positive affect and negative affect, however, there was an indication of improved positive affect as one attribute for strength (p=0.02), and within groups, negative affect was reduced (p=0.02), after high polyphenol dark chocolate only. No changes were observed after the control dark chocolate, or any other parameter measured. In conclusion, the findings from this small-scale study indicate lowering of salivary cortisol levels following polyphenol-rich dark chocolate, in adults recruited from a health and social care setting, with some small changes in mood states. Such changes may be attributable to their ability to inhibit 11β-hydroxysteroid dehydrogenase type-1 activity, and warrant further investigation.
| Item Type: | Article |
|---|---|
| Additional Information and Comments: | This is the author's version of an article that has been accepted for publication in Antioxidants. The final version is available at https://www.mdpi.com/2076-3921/8/6/149/htm |
| Faculty / Department: | Faculty of Human and Digital Sciences > School of Health and Sport Sciences |
| Depositing User: | Grace Farhat |
| Date Deposited: | 23 May 2019 10:52 |
| Last Modified: | 13 Dec 2019 14:22 |
| URI: | https://hira.hope.ac.uk/id/eprint/2862 |
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