The investigators and collaborators are leveraging COSMOS to study cognitive decline, falls, eye disease, and other ageing-related outcomes that may be influenced by the supplements
The first large-scale trial to test the long-term effects of a cocoa flavanol supplement to prevent cardiovascular disease offers promising signals that cocoa flavanols could have protective cardiovascular effects.
In papers published in The American Journal of Clinical Nutrition, a team led by Division of Preventive Medicine at Brigham and Women’s Hospital in the US, unpacks the main outcomes of the COcoa Supplement and Multivitamin Outcomes Study (COSMOS), a randomized, placebo-controlled trial that tested a cocoa flavanol supplement and a multivitamin in the prevention of cardiovascular disease and cancer.
While neither supplement significantly reduced the primary outcome of total cardiovascular events, people randomized to receive the cocoa flavanol supplement had a 27 percent lower rate of cardiovascular death, a pre-specified secondary endpoint.
“Although our study suggests intriguing signals for cardiovascular protection with cocoa flavanols, any health benefits due to taking these supplements will need confirmation in a future trial,” said the researchers.