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Black chocolate is already recognized for the benefits it has on the cardiovascular system, and now a new study has shown that black chocolate can also increase sports performance at fitness enthusiasts.

A team at Kingston University in London led by Rishikesh Kankesh Patel has discovered that black chocolate has red beet juice benefits, which has been consistently used by elite athletes after it has been shown to increase sports performance. Red beet juice is rich in nitrates, which in the body are converted to nitric oxide. Nitric oxide dilates blood vessels and lowers oxygen consumption, allowing athletes to train more and more intensely.

To test whether black chocolate has these effects, 9 amateur cyclists have been used. First the participants followed a fitness test to determine their basic parameters. Then the cyclists were divided into two groups; a group was asked to replace a daily snack with 40g of dark chocolate, known for high flavonoid values, while the other group replaced a snack with 40g of white chocolate.

The effects of chocolate consumption were measured by a series of tests costing on bicycle exercises. The pulse and oxygen consumption have been monitored both during an exerted physical exercise and during physical exercise tests. After 7 days the groups changed the type of chocolate between them, and the two-week tests were resumed.

The study concluded that after drinking dark chocolate cyclists used less oxygen when they cycled at medium intensity and traveled a longer distance in a two-minute test. Patel said these results have opened the door to new research that could make black chocolate a standard food in endurance athletes' diets. And black chocolate and red beet juice increase nitric oxide, this being the main mechanism behind performance gains. After eating black chocolate a sportsman can perform more time.
Now the new research focuses on determining the optimal level of flavonoids in black chocolate to get performance gains.

Try to determine if the effects are short-term - eat dark chocolate and the next day feel the effects - or in the long run, taking regular consumption of black chocolate. The initial reports support the idea of ​​a constant consumption of black chocolate. The optimal levels of flavonoids are intensively studied. There is currently no standard for flavonoids in commercial black ham. After determining these levels of flavonoids, Patel wants to compare them with red beet juice and see if the combination of the two foods can have synergistic effects, both products leading to the growth of nitrous oxide by slightly different mechanisms.

From a sports performance point of view, as an athlete becomes more efficient, it can have a major impact on the long-term exercises made at a steady pace. As many athletes consume red beet juice to get these results, but complain of taste, black chocolate could be a tasty alternative.