Is chocolate consumption associated with health outcomes? An umbrella review of systematic reviews and meta-analyses

Veronese, Nicola; Demurtas, Jacopo; Celotto, Stefano; Caruso, Maria Gabriella; Maggi, Stefania; Bolzetta, Francesco; Firth, Joseph; Smıth, Lee; Schofield, Patricia; Koyanagi, Ai; Yang, Lin; Solmi, Marco; Stubbs, Brendon

doi:10.1016/j.clnu.2018.05.019

Cited by 48 publications

(41 citation statements)

References 42 publications

Supporting

Mentioning

Contrasting

Unclassified

Order By: Relevance

“…AMSTAR was a measurement tool consisting of 11 items that has been shown to have good agreement, reliability, construct validity, and feasibility for methodological quality assessment, 14,15 and the GRADE system was an approach that offers a transparent and structured process for developing and presenting the summaries of evidence 16 . In AMSTAR, the methodological quality was usually categorized as high (8‐11 items achieved), moderate (4‐7 items achieved), and low (0‐3 items achieved) 17 . In GRADE system, according to the assessment of risk of bias, inconsistence, indirectness, imprecision, and publication bias, the evidence quality was divided into four categories (high, moderate, low, and very low) 18 …”

Section: Methodsmentioning

confidence: 99%

Sarcopenia and adverse health‐related outcomes: An umbrella review of meta‐analyses of observational studies

et al. 2020

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

Objective The purpose of this umbrella review was to assess the associations between sarcopenia and adverse health‐related outcomes. Design An umbrella review of meta‐analyses of observational studies. Setting and Participants Patients with sarcopenia and controls without sarcopenia were included. Measures The PubMed, Web of Science and Embase were searched for relevant systematic review and meta‐analysis. AMSTAR and GRADE system were used for methodological quality and evidence quality assessments, respectively. Results Totally 54 outcomes extracted from 30 meta‐analyses were analyzed. Twenty out of 21 prognostic outcomes indicated that sarcopenia was significantly associated with poorer prognosis of gastric cancer, hepatocellular cancer, urothelial cancer, head and neck cancer, hematological malignancy, pancreatic cancer, breast cancer, colorectal cancer, lung cancer, esophageal cancer, and ovarian cancer. Besides, 10 out of 16 postoperative outcomes suggested that sarcopenia significantly increased the risk of multiple postoperative complications and prolonged the length of hospitalization of patients with digestive cancer. In age‐related outcomes, sarcopenia significantly increased the risk of dysphagia, cognitive impairment, fractures, falls, hospitalization, and all‐cause mortality of elderly populations. Moreover, sarcopenia was also associated with higher level of albuminuria, risk of depression, and several metabolic diseases. Conclusions and Implications Sarcopenia significantly affected a wide range of adverse health‐related outcomes, particularly in patients of tumor and elderly populations. Because evidences of most outcomes were rated as “low” and “very low,” more prospective cohort studies are required in the future.

show abstract

Section: Methodsmentioning

confidence: 99%

Sarcopenia and adverse health‐related outcomes: An umbrella review of meta‐analyses of observational studies

et al. 2020

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

show abstract

“…It should be emphasized that most of the health benefits attributable to chocolate are associated with consuming the dark chocolate [19]. The available data indicate that chocolate consumption is connected with a reduced risk of acute myocardial infarction, death via cardiovascular disease, diabetes, and stroke; however, the evidence is weak [22]. Some research suggests a dose-response connection between chocolate consumption and the risk of all-cause mortality, heart failure, coronary heart disease, type 2 diabetes, hypertension, and colorectal cancer [23].…”

Section: Chocolate and Healthmentioning

confidence: 99%

To Eat or Not to eat: A Review of the Relationship between Chocolate and Migraines

et al. 2020

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

Migraine is a chronic disorder with episodic attacks, and patients with a migraine often report that certain factors can trigger their headache, with chocolate being the most popular type of food-based trigger. Many studies have suggested a link between chocolate and headaches; however, the underlying physiological mechanisms are unclear. As premonitory symptoms may herald migraine attacks, a question arises regarding whether eating chocolate before a headache is a consequence of a food craving or indeed a real trigger. Here, we aim to summarize the available evidence on the relationship between chocolate and migraines. All articles concerning this topic published up to January 2020 were retrieved by searching clinical databases, including EMBASE, MEDLINE, PubMed, and Google Scholar. All types of studies have been included. Here, we identify 25 studies investigating the prevalence of chocolate as a trigger factor in migraineurs. Three provocative studies have also evaluated if chocolate can trigger migraine attacks, comparing it to a placebo. Among them, in 23 studies, chocolate was found to be a migraine trigger in a small percentage of participants (ranging from 1.3 to 33), while all provocative studies have failed to find significant differences between migraine attacks induced by eating chocolate and a placebo. Overall, based on our review of the current literature, there is insufficient evidence that chocolate is a migraine trigger; thus, doctors should not make implicit recommendations to migraine patients to avoid it.

show abstract

“…Cocoa and chocolate are other foods that have been widely studied for the potential role on CM health, although only a weak evidence suggests that chocolate consumption may be associated with favorable health outcomes, including a reduced risk of cardiovascular diseases and diabetes [13]. Among potential mechanisms, cocoa and chocolate have been hypothesized to improve flow-mediated dilation, insulin, and HOMA-IR, despite there is a need for long-term studies [14] to fully confirm this.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Effect of coffee and cocoa-based confectionery containing coffee on markers of cardiometabolic health: results from the pocket-4-life project

et al. 2020

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

Purpose Coffee is an important source of bioactive compounds, including caffeine, trigonelline, and phenolic compounds. Several studies have highlighted the preventive effects of coffee consumption on major cardiometabolic (CM) diseases, but the impact of different coffee dosages on markers of CM risk in a real-life setting has not been fully understood. This study aimed to investigate the effect of coffee and cocoa-based confectionery containing coffee consumption on several CM risk factors in healthy subjects. Methods In a three-arm, crossover, randomized trial, 21 volunteers were assigned to consume in a random order for 1 month: 1 cup of espresso coffee/day, 3 cups of espresso coffee/day, and 1 cup of espresso coffee plus 2 cocoa-based products containing coffee, twice per day. At the last day of each treatment, blood samples were collected and used for the analysis of inflammatory markers, trimethylamine N-oxide, nitric oxide, blood lipids, and markers of glucose/insulin metabolism. Moreover, anthropometric parameters and blood pressure were measured. Finally, food consumption during the interventions was monitored. Results After 1 month, energy intake did not change among treatments, while significant differences were observed in the intake of saturated fatty acids, sugars, and total carbohydrates. No significant effect on CM markers was observed following neither the consumption of different coffee dosages nor after cocoa-based products containing coffee. Conclusions The daily consumption of common dosages of coffee and its substitution with cocoa-based products containing coffee showed no effect on CM risk factors in healthy subjects. Trial registration number Registered at clinicaltrials.gov as NCT03166540, May 21, 2017.

show abstract

Is chocolate consumption associated with health outcomes? An umbrella review of systematic reviews and meta-analyses

Abstract: There is weak evidence to suggest that chocolate consumption may be associated with favorable health outcomes.

Cited by 48 publications

References 42 publications

Sarcopenia and adverse health‐related outcomes: An umbrella review of meta‐analyses of observational studies

Sarcopenia and adverse health‐related outcomes: An umbrella review of meta‐analyses of observational studies

To Eat or Not to eat: A Review of the Relationship between Chocolate and Migraines

Effect of coffee and cocoa-based confectionery containing coffee on markers of cardiometabolic health: results from the pocket-4-life project

Contact Info

Product

Resources

About