Dark Chocolate and Intestinal Motility (CHOCO-mot)

February 13, 2019 updated by: piero portincasa, University of Bari

Effects of Dark Chocolate on Gastrointestinal Motility in Healthy Subjects

Following food intake, the body activates several processes to degrade and digest it. Studies show that there is an adaptation of gastric emptying and gastrointestinal motility to a food component; therefore, considering the intestinal adaptation to chocolate, the effect on gastrointestinal motility in relation to the intake of chocolate will be investigated.

The organoleptic perceptions of dark chocolate will also be analyzed to evaluate the appreciation of the product ingested by the subject.

Study Overview

Status

Unknown

Conditions

Intervention / Treatment

Detailed Description

Chocolate, the main product deriving from cocoa beans (Theobroma cacao, from the Greek "food of the gods") has its origin in Mexico, where Maya, Inca and Aztecs practiced its cultivation, has for centuries been appreciated for its pleasant taste and its beneficial health effects.

Chocolate is the most sought-after food worldwide, and currently its consumption has increased considerably with a wide availability of products on the market.

Dietary choices are strongly influenced by the taste and consistency of foods. Fat is largely responsible for the sensory properties of many foods and, therefore, contribute greatly to the pleasure of eating. Dark chocolate consists of ≈43% of lipids, mainly represented by cocoa butter. Cocoa butter is composed of an average of 33% of oleic acid, 25% of palmitic acid and 33% of stearic acid. Another component of chocolate is polyphenols, in particular flavonoids, substances with numerous beneficial effects for health, including antihypertensive, anti-inflammatory, antithrombotic, metabolic and prebiotic activity playing a role in the change of human intestinal microbiota. Recent scientific studies show an inverse correlation between the intake of flavonoids in the diet and the incidence of diabetes, such as to hypothesize the use of foods rich in flavonoids as potential food supplements in the management of diabetes. The cocoa flavonoids can bring benefits to the insulin-resistance condition by improving endothelial function, modifying glucose metabolism and reducing oxidative stress, which is considered the main cause of insulin resistance. In healthy individuals and even in patients with moderate cardiovascular risk, regular intake of flavonoids improves levels of cardiovascular biomarkers, reducing serum LDL cholesterol concentrations and triglycerides and increasing HDL cholesterol concentrations. The flavonoids present in cocoa may also inhibit platelet aggregation by down-regulation of the cellular synthesis of eicosanoids. Chocolate is an effective alternative for increasing fiber intake at recommended levels; in addition, it reduces intestinal transit time by increasing peristaltic movements.

Study Type

Interventional

Enrollment (Anticipated)

10

Phase

  • Not Applicable

Contacts and Locations

This section provides the contact details for those conducting the study, and information on where this study is being conducted.

Study Contact

Study Locations

  • Italy
    • BA
      • Bari, BA, Italy, 70124
        • Department of Biomedical Sciences Human Oncology - Clinica Medica "A. Murri"

Participation Criteria

Researchers look for people who fit a certain description, called eligibility criteria. Some examples of these criteria are a person's general health condition or prior treatments.

Eligibility Criteria

Ages Eligible for Study

25 years to 35 years (Adult)

Accepts Healthy Volunteers

No

Genders Eligible for Study

All

Description

Inclusion Criteria:

  • Aged 25-35 years old
  • Able to sign an informed consent

Exclusion Criteria:

  • Refuse to sign an informed consent
  • Diagnosis of organic diseases, including neoplastic inflammatory or cardiovascular diseases
  • Drugs able to influence the gastrointestinal tract or interfering with symptoms
  • Pregnancy
  • Presence of diseases with a prognosis inferior to a year
  • Hypersensitivity to chocolate or its components

Study Plan

This section provides details of the study plan, including how the study is designed and what the study is measuring.

How is the study designed?

Design Details

  • Primary Purpose: Screening
  • Allocation: N/A
  • Interventional Model: Single Group Assignment
  • Masking: None (Open Label)

Arms and Interventions

Participant Group / Arm
Intervention / Treatment
Experimental: Healthy
10 participants (matched per gender), aged 25-35 years old who accepts the consumption of dark chocolate plus a 'NutriDrink' previous to signing an informed consent and providing authorization to the handling of their personal data
Dietary supplement: Healthy
25g of dark chocolate (70%) will be provided to participants on Phase 1 (organoleptic assessment). On Phase 2 (gastrointestinal motility assessment), they will ingest a standard liquid meal (NutriDrink, 200ml), consisting of 10g of lactulose and 12g of fat

What is the study measuring?

Primary Outcome Measures

Outcome Measure
Measure Description
Time Frame
Organoleptic assessment
Time Frame: 1 day
All subjects (n=10, matched per gender) will undergo a subjective organoleptic assessment of dark chocolate, based on a standard semi-quantitative scale (ranging 1-5) and a quantitative visual analogue scale (VAS, ranging from 0 to 100 on a horizontal line), to evaluate the visual, auditory, olfactory, gustatory and tactile aspects.
1 day
Gastrointestinal motility
Time Frame: 1 day
All subjects (n=10, matched per gender) will be assessed for gastrointestinal motility in fasting state to monitor gastric empting, gallbladder empting (ultrasound) and oro-cecal transit time (H 2 lactulose BT), at baseline and at 5 minutes intervals during the firsts 30 minutes, and at 15 minutes intervals during the remaining 90 minutes, for a total of 2 hours of observations.
1 day

Collaborators and Investigators

This is where you will find people and organizations involved with this study.

Sponsor

University of Bari

Investigators

  • Principal Investigator: Piero Portincasa, MD, PhD, Clinica Medica "A. Murri", DIMO - University of Bari

Publications and helpful links

The person responsible for entering information about the study voluntarily provides these publications. These may be about anything related to the study.

General Publications

Study record dates

These dates track the progress of study record and summary results submissions to ClinicalTrials.gov. Study records and reported results are reviewed by the National Library of Medicine (NLM) to make sure they meet specific quality control standards before being posted on the public website.

Study Major Dates

Study Start (Anticipated)

March 1, 2019

Primary Completion (Anticipated)

May 1, 2019

Study Completion (Anticipated)

March 1, 2020

Study Registration Dates

First Submitted

February 11, 2019

First Submitted That Met QC Criteria

February 13, 2019

First Posted (Actual)

February 15, 2019

Study Record Updates

Last Update Posted (Actual)

February 15, 2019

Last Update Submitted That Met QC Criteria

February 13, 2019

Last Verified

February 1, 2019

More Information

Terms related to this study

Keywords

Other Study ID Numbers

  • 1519UO

Plan for Individual participant data (IPD)

Plan to Share Individual Participant Data (IPD)?

Undecided

Drug and device information, study documents

Studies a U.S. FDA-regulated drug product

No

Studies a U.S. FDA-regulated device product

No

This information was retrieved directly from the website clinicaltrials.gov without any changes. If you have any requests to change, remove or update your study details, please contact register@clinicaltrials.gov. As soon as a change is implemented on clinicaltrials.gov, this will be updated automatically on our website as well.

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