Acute dark chocolate ingestion is beneficial for hemodynamics via enhancement of erythrocyte deformability in healthy humans

Erythrocyte deformability is an important property of erythrocytes that considerably affects blood flow and hemodynamics. The high content of polyphenols present in dark chocolate has been reported to play a protective role in functionality of erythrocytes. We hypothesized that chocolate might influence erythrocytes not only after repeated chronic intake, but also immediately after its ingestion. Thus, we determined the acute effect of dark chocolate and milk (with lower content of biologically active substances) chocolate intake on erythrocyte deformability.

Source: Nutrition Research - March 6, 2017 Category: Nutrition Authors: Jana Radosinska, Martina Horvathova, Karel Frimmel, Jana Muchova, Maria Vidosovicova, Rastislav Vazan, Iveta Bernatova Source Type: research