
Dark chocolate improves endothelial function in young healthy people (2014) [pdf] - Mz
http://www.hoajonline.com/journals/pdf/2052-4358-2-3.pdf
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wdewind
This isn't a strong study (only 30 people) but it's a good start and provides
the basis for another study (I point this out because frequently people online
dismiss studies that have small sample sizes: the point is to provide the
basis for more study, not to be finally authoritative).

I believe, but may be wrong here, that the bigger picture here is that the
study is saying eating dark chocolate makes people "less diabetic."

For a larger context: there is lot of thinking right now in the nutritional
community about how many many things have a similar appearance to diabetes
(alzheimer's is one that's getting a lot of attention right now) and we are
starting to see a lot of similar problems from different diseases, which are
starting to be lumped into the "general metabolic syndrome" category.

So when I say "less diabetic," in this context I mean this study is showing
that eating dark chocolate helped improve one of the symptoms of diabetes (and
many other things that fall into metabolic syndrome).

The thing I don't like about this study is that it tries to act like dark
chocolate is some kind of magic bullet. It's the stuff that Dr. Oz builds his
career on. The truth is we don't understand a lot about metabolic syndrome,
but we do understand that there are some basic things you can do to improve
and they aren't a surprise. Basically: lose weight, eat better foods. It's
interesting that dark chocolate may affect this more than other foods, but if
you eat like shit and still eat dark chocolate it wont matter. It's a tiny
micro-optimization.

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jawilson2
It's probably the case that if you are eating dark chocolate, you AREN'T
eating sugary milky chocolate (or other candies), reducing your overall sugar
intake.

* That isn't the case in this study, though, since the control group was instructed to eat NO chocolate. So, the dark seems to have a positive effect.

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Mz
I have a condition that predisposes me to diabetes. I have seen articles that
connect diabetes and inflammation. I have eaten an antiinflammatory diet for a
long time, including good quality dark chocolate, which is high in
antioxidants. I am more sugar tolerant than I used to be. So I don't think
that your supposition, which largely dismisses the data, is likely to really
account for the difference.

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wdewind
What do you mean by sugar tolerant? I'd expect insulin sensitivity to be
higher in someone on an anti-inflammatory diet.

~~~
Mz
I do not have to be as careful about consuming sugar as I used to be. I no
longer have blood sugar crashes.

I was severely hypoglycemic when I was younger. My condition predisposes
people to a non-standard form of diabetes. It may also predispose them to a
condition that I am not sure of the name of, where you can experience both
hypoglycemia and hyperglycemia, in turns.

You might want to google "diabetes and inflammation." There are articles and
research on the connection. I was not specifically trying to fix my blood
sugar problems. I was trying to address other issues. The freedom to be more
carefree about eating sugary foods was an unexpected bonus. I was never
identified as diabetic, but I do have a long history of blood sugar problems,
mostly in the other direction, if that makes sense.

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wdewind
If you don't mind me asking, what is your diagnosis? I don't ask to be nosey,
insulin sensitivity is something I'm extremely interested in and would just
like to read more about this. The diabetes/inflammation connection especially
is extremely interesting to me because I think it probably has some kind of
connection to muscle protein synthesis and growing in general that I'd like to
learn more about.

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Mz
My official diagnosis is "atypical cystic fibrosis." It predisposes me to CFRD
-- Cystic Fibrosis Related Diabetes -- which is neither Type I nor Type II
diabetes, or so I have heard.

I did read an article on protein and the role it plays in insulin resistance.
I have no idea how you think that connects to inflammation. Care to share?

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wdewind
Sure, but I want to be totally clear that I am totally not a scientist or
anyone who knows what he is talking about before I do so. I just read a lot of
nutritional science because I'm interested in it and so I've strung together
some high level patterns. Reading quickly about CF and ACF, I don't think it's
related to what I'm talking about, but I'll explain my thoughts on diabetes
and how it connects to MPS and growth. I also want to make it clear I'm
talking about adult-onset, type ii diabetes. So probably not CFRD, and
probably not type i.

On a high level the pattern I see is that growing is one of many intense
metabolic stressors, and that there are other things that can approximate that
stress once you stop growing, specifically strength training, although I think
other forms of fitness are probably helpful as well, though less so.
Inflammation is the major biproduct of strength training, and is a crucial
part of the muscle building process, and yet we don't think of this
inflammation as unhealthy (unpleasant, sure) and it doesn't cause diabetes.
The most anabolic diet you can eat is one that causes huge amounts of
inflammation (high carbohydrate, high protein). So you have this intense
metabolic stress of growing and then it stops in your early 20s and you keep
up the inflammation cycles with the same diet and you get diabetes. You remove
this metabolic stress without adding another one and inflammation is bad, you
add it and it's good (crucial, even). And finally, someone who has low insulin
resistance is going to be the most affected by a highly inflammatory diet. In
a healthy person lowering your body fat percentage is one of the main ways you
can increase your insulin sensitivity (and thus muscle building potential).
Spiking your insulin is terrible if you are overweight, but it's great if you
are trying to build muscle.

Anyway, that's all very vague and I'm just some dog on the internet, but I
think basically there's a scientific opportunity to show that strenuous
exercise, specifically strength training, can have a much bigger impact on
metabolic syndrome than the science currently gives it credit for.

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Mz
Thank you. That framing does not at all fit with my understanding. But thank
you for taking the time to reply. I appreciate it.

