after formulating that product,
“experts” and “gurus” were
posting comments and writing
articles saying that NO may “seem”
to work “in theory” but it is just
a scam. Well, they don’t say that
any more because the research
in real humans is now pretty air
tight. The great thing about cocoa
is that it is such a potent stimulator
of NO, it would be surprising if
it didn’t have these effects. Also,
again, due to the complex chemical
composition of cocoa, it seems to
have other effects beyond that of
just boosting NO and some of those
effects seem to work in concert
with NO to increase the overall
benefits of its effects.
Exercise
performance
OK, I’ll start with the juicy part
first. Cocoa has now been
shown in about a dozen
studies to increase
performance. Many of
these were cycling time
trial performances in
which the subjects cycle
for a prolonged time at a
steady pace and then do
a very intense time trial
to see how far they can
cycle in a given time.
Although this isn’t the same
type of physiological stress
as weight training activity,
it is a very intense muscular
effort when in a depleted
state and so it is reasonable
to assume that if cocoa
can help improve
the performance
of cyclists in
a maximum
intensity effort, it
can help guys lifting
intensely in the gym. Other
performance studies
have demonstrated
that cocoa helps the
body process oxygen
more efficiently, use glycogen and
maintain blood sugar better, help
regenerate mitochondria (the cell’s
energy “powerhouses”), increase
VO2 max, increase total work
capacity, decrease muscle damage
and improve blood f low. On top of
these results in healthy individuals,
cocoa also helps improve mobility
and endurance in people with
cardiovascular disease.Muscle
As I brief ly alluded to, the “NO”,
which is jacked up by cocoa
is intimately associated with
hormone function and also is
involved in muscle growth,
strength, damage and repair.
Way back when we formulated
the first NO product, we hadfound evidence that it is involved
in the release or function of the
“big four” anabolic hormones- testosterone, IGF-1, growth
hormone and insulin. We also
found several studies going
back to the early 1990s showing
that nitric oxide is required to
heal wounds and repair tissue.
At the time, scientists believed
that nitric oxide might soon be
used to improve muscle mass in
patients who are losing muscle
due to disease. We also found
a study showing that when NO
was blocked, strength decreased
and that when NO levels were
boosted, strength was significantly
increased. Furthermore, a human
study showed a 15 percent increase
in force production in the muscle
from boosting NO! Two other
studies showed that NO was
almost certainly directly involved
in building and repairing muscle
tissue also. Add this to the fact
that studies on other NO-
enhancing nutrients have
shown benefits on strength
and number of reps in things
like bench press and other
lifts and this makes
a pretty compelling
case for cocoa!
More recent studies have
shown that NO is a key
signal produced by muscle
loading, which stimulates an
increase in mTOR signalling
(the primary path which
stimulates the muscle-
building process, protein
synthesis). If that wasn’t
enough, a recent study on
cocoa found that when
subjects consumed it, they
had lower levels of cortisol,
catecholamines and other
biological markers of
stress! So for those guys
hitting it really hard in the
gym, there could be
some additional
benefit.
CHOCOLATE FOR PERFORMANCE AND HEALTHJUNE 2017 MUSCLE & FITNESS 103