We all love sweets. And even if you're very health and fitness-conscious, it's hard to simply do away with all the yummy goodness.
For some of us, the problem lies with the insatiable addiction to chocolate. But, what if our joy of chocolate can be a good thing?
Heck, what if it can help you build muscle? Well, that's the case being made about dark chocolate.
The belief is that dark chocolate can increase muscle growth because it contains the flavanol epicatechin. Epicatechin has been hypothesized to invoke two significant muscle-building properties:
decreasing myostatin, and increasing follistatin. A 2014 study seeking potential methods to diminish the effects of sarcopenia, the process in which we lose muscle mass due to aging, tested exactly for this.
With roughly 150 milligrams of epicatechin supplementation per day, the 6 middle-aged subjects saw a 16.6% myostatin decrease and a 49.2% follistatin increase. So why is all of this important?
Myostatin is a regulating protein that alters the rate of muscle growth, creating a genetic muscle ceiling. The more myostatin present, the lower the amount of muscle you can build.
As seen in other animals, the lack of myostatin can invoke unnatural amounts of muscle. The protein follistatin, has an antagonist effect to myostatin, diminishing myostatin's muscle limiting effect.
Fittingly, if your goal is to build muscle, you want myostatin reduced, but not to the point of completely removing it. And as showcased, this is a very likely scenario with epicatechin and the necessary amount can be obtained through dark chocolate.
However… the amount you have to eat is relatively high. Now, all dark chocolates are not created equal.
