When exercise occurs in mammals, muscle aerobic capacity is increased. The resulting physiological changes are an increase in mitochondrial volume and increase in capillarity. Other recent studies have shown that increased mitochondrial volume may help reduce the effects of aging on muscles (Nogueira et al., 2011). Thus, because exercise is believed to have such a beneficial effect on people's health, the use of substances that produce similar physiological effects are being highly researched.
As mentioned, the consumption of (-)epicatechin is believed to produce similar effects. But the isomers of (-)epicatechin , (+)epicatechin, (-)catechin, and (+)catechin, are not believed to produce these effects, which limits the research to this natural flavanoid of cocoa. The main evidence that led researchers to believe that (-)epicatechin may mimic exercise is that, in low doses, it produces small amounts of nitric oxide that may play a role in biogenesis of mitochondria and also has vasodilation effects.
Because the use of human subjects and the use of exercise as an independent variable is very difficult to produce a study on, an animal model was used for the current in the study. Middle age mice were put into 1 of 4 conditions: 1)Water only (control) 2) Water w/exercise 3)(-)epicatechin 4) (-)epicatechin w/exercise. The fourth condition, (-)epicatechin w/exercise was used so that the effects of (-)epicatechin could be measured in addition to exercise. The trial, which lasted 15 days, examined 4 factors of exercise:
-Overall exercise performance
-Muscle fatigue
-Muscle capillarity
-Mitochondrial biogenesis in the heart and hindlimb muscles.
(The exercise condition that mice in group 2 & 4 underwent was a treadmill for 30 mins 5x/ week.)
Once the 15 days was over, the mice were anesthetized and killed and the specific muscles were dissected. From this, a variety of tests and scans were run on the muscles in order to measure the metabolic activity and physiological changes.
While the results of study showed no significant differences overall, there we are few interesting details that deserve to be noted. In the hindlimb muscles, there was a large difference in the capillarity, both in size and density. Also, the difference between the water and (-)epicatechin group in terms of mitochondrial density was shown to be significant.
The use of (-)epicatechin treatment improved also treadmill performance and delayed the onset of muscle fatigue (Nogueira et al., 2011).
The use of (-)epicatechin alone was shown to increase certain proteins that are integral in the mitochondrial complexes, an effect that can be observed in exercise alone. The current study, as it was the first of its kind, suggests further study of (-)epicatechin and exercise effects, but also possibly combing the two in order to have have a synergistic effect in the body.
So here is question time:
1. Although this study did not show significant effects and differences (statistically), changes and improvements were still observed. Can we possibly use (-)epicatechin to enhance our exercise plan? Or is it enough alone?
2. What do you think about the idea of "exercise mimetic" (using (-)epicatechin to mimic exercise instead of actually doing it)?
Works Cited:
Nogueira, Leonardo., Ramirez-Sanchez., Israel, Perkins., Guy A., Murphy, Anne., Taub, Pam R., Ceballos, Guillermo., Villarreal, Francisco J., Hogan, Michael C., Malek, Moh H. (2011)
(–)-Epicatechin enhances fatigue resistance and oxidative capacity in mouse muscle
The Journal of Physiology, 589(18), 469-7793
While I find it interesting that (-)-epicatechin has health benefits regarding increased capillarity and increased amounts of muscle mitochondrial biogenesis, resulting in a delay of muscle fatigue, I do not think that we should only rely on this flavanol to enhance our exercise plan. The study shows that it could be beneficial to incorporate the natural molecule into ones diet, but I feel to rely exclusively on one such factor for health benefits is unwise. Exercise has many more benefits to overall physiological health that this molecule does not provide, including combating health conditions and disease, stress release, weight maintenance, enhancing mood, keeping your bones and muscles strong, etc. I think one of the most interesting findings from this study is the effects of (-)-epicatechin demonstrates in nitric oxide production in endothelial cells. Upon NO binding to hemoglobin, the SNO-Hb complex dilates blood vessels, which ultimately leads to an increase in oxygen delivery to muscle tissue. Obviously, this would be beneficial for individuals during a workout, to increase oxygen delivery to those working muscles to not only sustain energy during a workout, but to delay muscle fatigue later. However, I don’t think that one could consume enough of this exercise mimetic, (-)-epicatechin, safely to reap these benefits, and exercise provides much more to overall health.
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