Buffers Stress Reactivity

From Dark Chocolate Intake Buffers Stress Reactivity in Humans, Journal of the American College of Cardiology, Volume 63, Issue 21, 2014, Pages 2297-2299,
ISSN 0735-1097 from Science Direct. By Switzerland-based researchers Petra H. Wirtz, Roland von Känel, Rebecca E. Meister, Angela Arpagaus, Sibylle Treichler, Ulrike Kuebler, Susanne Huber, Ulrike Ehlert.

• "Our findings indicate that acute flavonoid-rich dark chocolate intake buffers endocrine stress reactivity at the level of the adrenal gland, suggesting a peripheral stress-protective effect of dark chocolate consumption, particularly as in the dark chocolate group the unaffected ACTH stress response did not result in correspondingly high cortisol secretion."

Based on a placebo-controlled, between-subject study design with healthy, medication-free, non-smoking men (20 to 50 years of age) who were age-matched assigned to the experimental dark chocolate group (n = 31) or the placebo control group (n = 34). The dark chocolate (“Noir 72%”; Chocolat Frey AG, Buchs/Aargau, Switzerland) contained 281 kcal and 125 mg of epicatechin per serving of 50 g. Participants were tested before and up to 120 minutes after stress cessation. 

Equivalent Serving Size: about one and one-half 30g servings of our 80% Cacao Content Snacking Cacao.