Dark chocolate's impact on low-grade endotoxemia in metabolic dysfunction-associated steatohepatitis

Background and Aims

Cocoa may have prebiotic effects and improve gut barrier function. However, it remains unclear whether dark chocolate can reduce lipopolysaccharide (LPS) levels in patients with metabolic dysfunction–associated steatohepatitis (MASH). This study aims to evaluate the effect of dark chocolate compared to milk chocolate on endotoxemia in patients with MASH.

Methods and Results

Nineteen patients with MASH were randomly assigned in a crossover design to consume either 40 g/d of dark chocolate (>85% cocoa) or 40 g/d of milk chocolate (<35% cocoa) for 2 weeks to evaluate circulating levels of LPS and zonulin. A significant difference between treatments was observed in LPS (P = 0.04) and zonulin (P = 0.02) levels based on the ANOVA conducted on the crossover study data. Pairwise comparisons revealed that, compared to baseline, after 14 days of dark chocolate consumption, LPS levels decreased from 22 ± 4 to 19 ± 4 pg/dL (–15%), and zonulin levels decreased from 3.2 ± 0.9 to 2.5 ± 0.8 pg/mL (–20%). Linear correlation analysis indicated that the change (Δ) in LPS values before and after chocolate intake correlated with the change (Δ) in zonulin levels (R = 0.340, P = 0.03).

Conclusions

This study demonstrates that dark chocolate reduces circulating levels of LPS and zonulin in patients with MASH.