Sadler, Daniel and Draijer, Richard and Stewart, C.E. and Jones, Helen and Marwood, Simon and Thijssen, Dick (2021) Cocoa-flavanols enhance moderate-intensity pulmonary V̇O2 kinetics but not exercise tolerance in sedentary middle-aged adults. European Journal of Applied Physiology, 121. pp. 2285-2294. ISSN 1439-6319
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Abstract
Introduction: Cocoa flavanols (CF) may exert health benefits through their potent vasodilatory effects, which are perpetuated by elevations in nitric oxide (NO) bioavailability. These vasodilatory effects may contribute to improved delivery of blood and oxygen (O2) to exercising muscle. Purpose: Therefore, the objective of this study was to examine how CF supplementation impacts pulmonary O2 uptake (V̇O2) kinetics and exercise tolerance in sedentary middle-aged adults. Methods: We employed a double-blind cross-over, placebo-controlled design whereby 17 participants (11 male, 6 female; mean±SD, 45±6 years) randomly received either 7 days of daily CF (400 mg) or placebo (PL) supplementation. On day 7, participants completed a series of ‘step’ moderate- and severe-intensity exercise tests for the determination of V̇O2 kinetics. Results: During moderate-intensity exercise, the time constant of the fundamental phase II V̇O2 kinetics (τV̇O2) was decreased by 15% in CF as compared to PL (mean±SD; PL: 40±12 vs. CF: 34±9 s, P=0.019), with no differences in the amplitude of V̇O2 (AV̇O2; PL: 0.77±0.32 vs. CF: 0.79±0.34 l min−1, P=0.263). However, during severe-intensity exercise, τV̇O2,the amplitude of the slow component (SCV̇O2) and exercise tolerance (PL: 435±58 vs. CF: 424±47 s, P=0.480) were unchanged between conditions. Conclusions: Our data show that acute CF supplementation enhanced V̇O2 kinetics during moderate-, but not severe-intensity exercise in middle-aged participants. These novel effects of CFs, in this demographic, may contribute to improved tolerance of moderate-activity physical activities, which appear commonly present in daily life.
| Item Type: | Article |
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| Additional Information and Comments: | Open Access This article is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License, which permits use, sharing, adaptation, distribution and reproduction in any medium or format, as long as you give appropriate credit to the original author(s) and the source, provide a link to the Creative Commons licence, and indicate if changes were made. The pubished version is available from: https://link.springer.com/article/10.1007/s00421-021-04682-9 |
| Keywords: | Flavanols · Oxygen uptake kinetics · Heart rate · Exercise tolerance · Middle-age |
| Faculty / Department: | Faculty of Human and Digital Sciences > School of Health and Sport Sciences |
| Depositing User: | Simon Marwood |
| Date Deposited: | 25 May 2021 09:06 |
| Last Modified: | 30 May 2022 13:39 |
| URI: | https://hira.hope.ac.uk/id/eprint/3288 |
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