By-products of chocolate production positively affect some indices of cardiovascular risk

Scientific evidences show that consumption of foods rich in antioxidants may lower the risk of cardiovascular diseases. Some by-products from the agro-industry, usually considered as worthless wastes to discharge, have a valuable nutritional composition and a high content of antioxidants. Cocoa husks are examples of such by-products. Cocoa husks are the integuments of the beans of the plant Theobroma cacao L. Cocoa beans, after drying, roasting and shelling, are used worldwide for chocolate production, while the husks are partially used to produce feedstuffs or fertilizers. Despite having a high content of lignin, cocoa husks contain appreciable amounts of dietary fibre, proteins and lipids. Moreover, cocoa husks constitute a rich source of antioxidants, in particular polyphenols. According to this, the present study aimed at evaluating the effect of consumption of cocoa husks on some haematological parameters considered indices of cardiovascular risk, in pigs. Pig models mimic the human situation accurately and are widely used in biomedical research, including cardiovascular research. For this purpose, 8 castrated male finishing pigs were divided into 2 homogeneous groups: a control group (CTRL) fed a commercial diet, based on cereals, and a treatment group (COCOA) fed a diet obtained by substitution of 10% of the control diet with cocoa husks. The content of total polyphenols was 8.17 vs. 15.4 mg per g of dry matter, for CTRL and COCOA diet, respectively. After 6 weeks, jugular vein blood samples were taken from all the pigs and analysed for some biomarkers of cardiovascular diseases, such as total cholesterol, HDL cholesterol, LDL cholesterol, and for some inflammation sensitive plasma proteins, such as fibrinogen, haptoglobin and ceruloplasmin. Cocoa husks feeding increased the level of HDL cholesterol, without affecting total and LDL cholesterol. Moreover, the administration of cocoa husks decreased blood haptoglobin level. It is well known that increased HDL cholesterol is associated with reduced risk of cardiovascular diseases. Moreover, inflammation sensitive plasma proteins increase the cholesterol-related incidence of cardiovascular diseases, so, the decrease of their blood level has positive effects on health. In conclusion, further studies will test the possibility for cocoa husks to serve as raw material for the development of dietary supplements to use for the prevention and treatment of cardiovascular diseases, in addition to the medical therapies.