Abstract:
INTRODUCCIÓN An increasing number of people who are not physically prepared often engage in strenuous exercise competitions (marathons, “quebrantahuesos”, desert runs, etc.). Strenuous exercise has negative health consequences, increasing the risk of cardiovascular disease and gastrointestinal problems [1,2]. Cocoa is used as a supplement during exercise, as it improves cardiovascular function and counteracts the associated exercise oxidative stress [3]. In addition, one of its components, epicatechin, has been shown to improve exercise adaptations, increasing mitochondrial biogenesis in both exercise and non-exercise animals [4,5]. The hypothesis of our study is that cocoa intake could increase exercise adaptations at the mitochondrial level.
OBJETIVOS The purpose of this study was to determine whether cocoa supplementation prior to strenuous exercise improves exercise adaptations in an untrained mouse model to ultimately mitigate the negative effects of strenuous exercise.
MÉTODOS Three groups of mice (n=10 per group) did not perform exercise and were fed for 4 weeks with: control diet, control diet supplemented with 8.2 g/kg cocoa and control diet supplemented with 24.6 g/kg cocoa. The coc...