#news: Cocoa extract could slow aging process in older adults, 'promising' new study finds
Cocoa extract could help slow down inflammation in the body and potentially reduce the risk of age-related diseases, especially for older adults, a large-scale new study has found.
Scientists at Mass General Brigham in Boston tracked nearly 600 adults averaging 70 years old who took either 500 milligrams of cocoa extract or a placebo every day for two years.
Those taking the cocoa compounds experienced an 8.4% slower annual increase in high-sensitivity C-reactive protein, or hsCRP, a key blood marker widely used to measure systemic inflammation, compared to the placebo group.
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The findings, published this month in the British journal Age and Ageing, are a substudy of the Cocoa Supplement and Multivitamin Outcomes Study, or COSMOS. It's one of the largest clinical studies on cocoa's flavanols, plant-based compounds with anti-inflammatory properties, with over 21,000 participants.
Researchers noted the smaller sample allowed for more precise tracking of hsCRP changes over time, though it does not reflect the full 21,000-person trial population.
Cocoa is the key ingredient in chocolate, made from roasted cacao beans and processed into cocoa solids and cocoa butter.
Inflammation helps the body fight injury and infection and is beneficial in the short term. As people age, however, it can persist at low levels, a phenomenon known as "inflammaging." Over time, it can gradually damage blood vessels, muscles, bones and the brain.
"Inflammaging reflects a long process during which several aging-related diseases develop, such as cardiovascular disease," study author Dr. Howard Sesso, an associate epidemiologist at Brigham and Women's Hospital, told Fox News Digital.
In earlier COSMOS findings, he said, several years of cocoa flavanol supplementation significantly reduced cardiovascular disease death by 27% – and the new findings may help explain why.
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Heart disease is the leading cause of death in the U.S., according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, with one person dying every 34 seconds from cardiovascular disease.
"While cocoa extract is not a replacement for a healthy lifestyle, these results are encouraging and highlight its potential role in modulating inflammation as we age," Yanbin Dong, Ph.D., senior study author and director of Augusta University's Georgia Prevention Institute, said in a news release.
While cocoa extract may help the body age more smoothly, the study speaks to the importance of a "diverse, colorful diet" rich in flavanols, Sesso said.
"I would prefer to see an emphasis on flavanols from all plant-based food sources and not just cocoa," he said.
Unlike chocolate bars, the capsules provide a concentrated dose without sugar or fat – though processing often strips chocolate of antioxidants.
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The researchers also cautioned that while cocoa extract lowered one key inflammation marker, it doesn't yet prove that people will live longer or avoid disease. They said more research is needed.
Mark Kovacs, Ph.D., an exercise physiologist and longevity expert who was not involved in the study, said the results "should be viewed as promising but preliminary."
"Lower hsCRP is encouraging, but the hard outcomes we care about – fewer heart attacks, strokes, hospitalizations or improvements in mobility and independence – haven't yet been demonstrated," Kovacs told Fox News Digital.
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"Dietary or supplemental approaches that target inflammation are certainly part of the future of healthy aging," he added. "But they should be seen as additives, not replacements, for foundational lifestyle factors like exercise, adequate sleep, stress management and nutrient-rich diets such as the Mediterranean diet."
Larger and more diverse studies are needed to confirm the benefits, since the trial mostly involved healthy, older White adults and tested only one specific extract.
"We do not believe the results should differ much in more diverse populations, though future studies are important," Sesso noted.
"There is already strong interest in the scientific community [in] the role of flavanols on cardiovascular health, and our hope is that this finding on inflammaging in COSMOS will add more scientific evidence to be considered."
The study was funded by the National Institutes of Health, with Mars Edge and Pfizer supplying the study pills and infrastructure, according to the paper.
The researchers, who were also affiliated with the University of Science and Technology of China and the Harvard T.H. Chan School of Public Health, disclosed ties to the companies but wrote that neither had any role in the analysis.
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