Given the widespread ingetion of cocoa in many cultures, we investigated whether cocoa, in its isolated procyanidin fractions (monomer through decamer), would modulate synthesis of the antiinflammatory cytokine, interleukin (IL-4). Both resting and phytohemagluttinin (PHA)- stimulated peripheral mononuclear blood cells (PMBC) were investigated at the protein secretion level. The smaller-sized cocoa fractions (tetramer or less) were unable to induce an IL-4 response (i.e. values fell below the detection limit of 0.25 pg/ml). The larger oligomeric procyanidines (penatmer or greater) stimulated secretion of IL-4 in resting PBMC by as much as 1.42 pg/ml, as shown by the nonamer. However only the hexameric, heptameric and decameric fractions proved to be statistically significant. Cells co-incubated with PBA showed an immense increase in IL-4 (21.1 ± 1.1 pg/ml). Only the monomeric fraction was able to induce the PHA-induced secretion of 48%. The other procyanidin oligomers supressed IL-4 production; in particular the hexameric, heptameric and octameric fractions significantly inhibited mitogen-stimulated secretion of IL-4 by 55%, 61% and 71%, respectively. This study offers additional data for the consideration of the health benefits of polyphenols from a wide variety of foods, including those benefits associated specifically with cooca and chocolate consumption.
The following library presently contains abstracts of the journal articles published by Mars, Incorporated scientists or other scientists who have used Cocoapro® cocoa supplied by Mars, Incorporated. As the site continues to evolve, abstracts of additional peer-reviewed papers from all cocoa literature will be added.
