A nutritive dose of pure (-)-epicatechin does not beneficially affect increased cardiometabolic risk factors in overweight-to-obese adults-a randomized, placebo-controlled, double-blind crossover study.

Study answer

What this study found

Daily 25 mg (-)-epicatechin for 2 weeks did not improve cardiometabolic risk factors in overweight-to-obese adults with metabolic-syndrome features. Blood pressure was not affected by treatment or by treatment by time interaction; SBP and DBP showed only time effects (P = 0.011 and P = 0.029), with no significant post hoc differences. Glucose, insulin, HOMA-IR, triglycerides, oxidized LDL, vitamin C, vitamin E, beta-carotene, and arginine were unchanged, and total cholesterol, LDL cholesterol, and HDL cholesterol changed only by time (P = 0.002, P = 0.011, P = 0.005) without significant…

Study & population

Randomized, placebo-controlled, double-blind crossover study in overweight-to-obese nonsmoking adults with signs of metabolic syndrome.

Intervention

Oral capsules containing 25 mg/day of pure (-)-epicatechin were taken daily for 14 consecutive days.

Key limitation

The intervention was short term, with only 2 weeks of supplementation, which limits assessment of longer-term cardiometabolic effects.

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Original abstract