Pannunzio Arianna, Baratta Francesco, Maggio Enrico, Palumbo Ilaria Maria, Magna Arianna, Trivigno Chiara, Carnevale Roberto, Simona Bartimoccia, Cammisotto Vittoria, Vidili Gianpaolo, Pignatelli Pasquale, Ben Maria Del, Violi Francesco, Loffredo Lorenzo
Department of Clinical, Internal, Anesthesiologic and Cardiovascular Sciences, Sapienza University of Rome, Rome, Italy.
Department of Medicine, Surgery and Pharmacy, University of Sassari, Sassari, Italy.
Nutrition. 2025 Mar;131:112643. doi: 10.1016/j.nut.2024.112643. Epub 2024 Nov 16.
Cocoa may have prebiotic effects and improve gut barrier function. However, it remains unclear whether dark chocolate can reduce lipopolysaccharide (LPS) levels in patients with metabolic dysfunction-associated steatohepatitis (MASH). This study aims to evaluate the effect of dark chocolate compared to milk chocolate on endotoxemia in patients with MASH.
Nineteen patients with MASH were randomly assigned in a crossover design to consume either 40 g/d of dark chocolate (>85% cocoa) or 40 g/d of milk chocolate (<35% cocoa) for 2 weeks to evaluate circulating levels of LPS and zonulin. A significant difference between treatments was observed in LPS (P = 0.04) and zonulin (P = 0.02) levels based on the ANOVA conducted on the crossover study data. Pairwise comparisons revealed that, compared to baseline, after 14 days of dark chocolate consumption, LPS levels decreased from 22 ± 4 to 19 ± 4 pg/dL (-15%), and zonulin levels decreased from 3.2 ± 0.9 to 2.5 ± 0.8 pg/mL (-20%). Linear correlation analysis indicated that the change (Δ) in LPS values before and after chocolate intake correlated with the change (Δ) in zonulin levels (R = 0.340, P = 0.03).
This study demonstrates that dark chocolate reduces circulating levels of LPS and zonulin in patients with MASH.
可可可能具有益生元效应并改善肠道屏障功能。然而，目前尚不清楚黑巧克力是否能降低代谢功能障碍相关脂肪性肝炎（MASH）患者的脂多糖（LPS）水平。本研究旨在评估与牛奶巧克力相比，黑巧克力对MASH患者内毒素血症的影响。
19例MASH患者采用交叉设计，随机分为两组，分别食用40克/天的黑巧克力（可可含量>85%）或40克/天的牛奶巧克力（可可含量<35%），为期2周，以评估LPS和闭合蛋白的循环水平。基于对交叉研究数据进行的方差分析，在LPS（P = 0.04）和闭合蛋白（P = 0.02）水平上观察到治疗组之间存在显著差异。两两比较显示，与基线相比，食用黑巧克力14天后，LPS水平从22±4降至19±4 pg/dL（-15%），闭合蛋白水平从3.2±0.9降至2.5±0.8 pg/mL（-20%）。线性相关分析表明，巧克力摄入前后LPS值的变化（Δ）与闭合蛋白水平的变化（Δ）相关（R = 0.340，P = 0.03）。
本研究表明，黑巧克力可降低MASH患者的LPS和闭合蛋白循环水平。
