Metabolic Effects of Dark Chocolate Consumption on Energy

Article

Metabolic Effects of Dark Chocolate Consumption on Energy, Gut Microbiota, and Stress-Related Metabolism in Free-Living Subjects

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Francois-Pierre J. Martin^†¶, Serge Rezzi^†¶, Emma Per-Trepat^†, Beate Kamlage^‡, Sebastiano Collino^†, Edgar Leibold^§, Jrgen Kastler^‡, Dietrich Rein^#, Laurent B. Fay^† and Sunil Kochhar*^†

Nestl Research Center, Vers-chez-les-Blanc, CH-1000 Lausanne 26, Switzerland, Metanomics GmbH, Tegeler Weg 33, 10589 Berlin, Germany, BASF SE, 67056 Ludwigshafen, Germany, and Metanomics Health GmbH, Tegeler Weg 33, 10589 Berlin, Germany

J. Proteome Res., 2009, 8 (12), pp 5568–5579

DOI: 10.1021/pr900607v

Publication Date (Web): October 7, 2009

Copyright © 2009 American Chemical Society

* To whom correspondence should be addressed. Sunil Kochhar, Nestl Research Center, BioAnalytical Sciences, P.O. Box 44, Vers-chez-les-Blanc, CH-1000 Lausanne 26, Switzerland. E-mail, Sunil.kochhar@rdls.nestle.com; telephone, +41 785 9336; fax, +41 (21) 785 9486., †

Nestl Research Center.

, ¶

Contributed equally to the manuscript.

, ‡

Metanomics GmbH.

, §

BASF SE.

, #

Metanomics Health GmbH.

Abstract

Dietary preferences influence basal human metabolism and gut microbiome activity that in turn may have long-term health consequences. The present study reports the metabolic responses of free living subjects to a daily consumption of 40 g of dark chocolate for up to 14 days. A clinical trial was performed on a population of 30 human subjects, who were classified in low and high anxiety traits using validated psychological questionnaires. Biological fluids (urine and blood plasma) were collected during 3 test days at the beginning, midtime and at the end of a 2 week study. NMR and MS-based metabonomics were employed to study global changes in metabolism due to the chocolate consumption. Human subjects with higher anxiety trait showed a distinct metabolic profile indicative of a different energy homeostasis (lactate, citrate, succinate, trans-aconitate, urea, proline), hormonal metabolism (adrenaline, DOPA, 3-methoxy-tyrosine) and gut microbial activity (methylamines, p-cresol sulfate, hippurate). Dark chocolate reduced the urinary excretion of the stress hormone cortisol and catecholamines and partially normalized stress-related differences in energy metabolism (glycine, citrate, trans-aconitate, proline, β-alanine) and gut microbial activities (hippurate and p-cresol sulfate). The study provides strong evidence that a daily consumption of 40 g of dark chocolate during a period of 2 weeks is sufficient to modify the metabolism of free living and healthy human subjects, as per variation of both host and gut microbial metabolism.