Effects of acute dark chocolate ingestion on cardiovascular endurance and reducing muscle pain among recreational athletes/ Rosanne Richard

Dark chocolate (DC) have been an essential ergogenic aids and as energy source for endurance athletes and recreational athletes. Dark chocolates
contains 70-90% cocoa are very beneficial to health as it contain essential flavanols, polyphenols and caffeine. Purpose: The aim of this study was to investigate the effect of acute dark chocolate ingestion on cardiovascular (CV) endurance and reducing muscle pain among recreational athletes. Methods'. A group of twenty six (N=26) male recreational athletes were recruited by using a convenience sampling methods. Three days before the pre-test, the subjects attended the familiarization phase and filled the Inform Consent form and PAR-Q. After 3 days, the pre-test were conducted. Subjects ingested only mineral water during pre-test. The CV endurance (VO2max) and total distance of the subjects were assessed through 20m shuttle run test. After undergo the testing, they were given a week ofwashout period as recovery before the post-test session. During post-test 1, after 10 hours of fasting, dark chocolate drinks were ingested to all of the subjects an hour before the 20m shuttle run testing executed. Exactly 24 hours after each testing, muscle pain were assessed by using the Visual Analogue Scale.