A natural chemical in dark chocolate may play a role in slowing certain signs of biological aging. Researchers at King’s College London have identified theobromine, a plant compound found in cocoa, as a possible contributor to this effect.
The study, published on December 10 in Aging, analyzed how much theobromine was present in participants’ blood and compared those levels with biological aging markers measured in blood samples.
What Biological Age Reveals
Biological age reflects how well a person’s body is functioning, rather than the number of years they have lived. This measure is based on DNA methylation, a collection of tiny chemical tags on DNA that shift as we grow older.
The research team examined data from two European groups, including 509 people from TwinsUK and 1,160 from KORA. Individuals with higher amounts of theobromine in their bloodstream tended to have a biological age that appeared younger than their chronological age.
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Dr. Ricardo Costeira, a Postdoctoral Research Associate at King’s College London, said: “This study identifies another molecular mechanism through which naturally occurring compounds in cocoa may support health. While more research is needed, the findings from this study highlight the value of population-level analyses in aging and genetics.”
Although the findings are encouraging, the researchers caution that increasing dark chocolate consumption is not automatically beneficial. Chocolate also contains sugar, fat and other ingredients, and more work is needed to fully understand how theobromine interacts with the body and how it may influence aging.
Source: Scientists find dark chocolate ingredient that slows aging | ScienceDaily
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