Cocoa Supplements, Green Tea Extract Seen Improving Survival Rate of Mice

Aging-US has published the results of a recent study showing that green tea extract (GTE) and cocoa-supplemented diets significantly improved the survival rate of mice.

"Sarcopenia, the progressive loss of skeletal muscle mass and function with age, is considered the main causative factor of the physical performance decline in the elderly,” investigator Jordi Calderó, MD, of IRBLleida, said in a statement.

Sarcopenia, then, has a negative impact when it comes to quality of life in elderly individuals and increases the risk of fall-associated disability, injury, mobility, and morbidity.

GTE has been shown to increase the density of VAChT and VGluT2 on neuromuscular junctions.

Cocoa reduced aging-associated microgliosis and increased the proportions of neuroprotective microglial phenotypes.

There was also a reported increase in the microglial (M1) and astroglial (A1) pro-inflammatory phenotypes in the spinal cord of aged mice, which could be because of the presence of anti-inflammatory (M2) and neuroprotective (A2) glial subpopulation, according to the statement.

A diet low in calories also reduces the aging sarcopenia in various species at different levels of the skeletal muscle.

Reference

Aging-US: dietary supplementation with green tea catechins and cocoa flavanols. EurekAlert. Spetember 1, 2021. Accessed September 1, 2021. https://www.eurekalert.org/news-releases/925625