Drink 1 Cup a Day to Save Your Arteries

Everyone knows that too much sitting is bad for your health. It reduces circulation in your limbs, which can promote heart and blood pressure issues. It slows down your metabolic rate, which can lead to weight gain, and it can raise your blood sugar, which can increase the risk of kidney disease and diabetes. As a general rule of thumb, we should try to sit less and move a little bit more. But, there's a little trick you can use to reduce the harmful effects of sitting, and it's not a hard trick. It doesn't involve anything physical. It's actually quite delicious. I'm not talking about the soleus push-up, which I've covered before. You should definitely do the soleus push-ups while sitting because they also reduce the harmful effects of sitting on your circulation. But, in this video, I'm talking about something a lot more delicious, and that's drinking cocoa. Why? Because it appears to counteract the decrease in circulation and blood vessel stiffening during sitting. In

this new 2025 randomized controlled trial, they took 20 people with high fitness, a VO2 max over 49, and 20 individuals with low fitness. Their VO2 max was below 41. They were told to sit down for 2 hours straight, and then they were given either a low flavanol drink containing 5. 6 mg of flavanols or a high flavanol drink containing 695 mg of flavanols. What they found was that sitting reduced arterial function because of reduced blood flow. That's to be expected. High cardiorespiratory fitness didn't prevent sitting-induced vascular dysfunction. So, even if you are fit individual, too much sitting will reduce your blood flow and can interrupt vascular function. However, the high dose cocoa flavanols of 695 mg prevented the decline in blood vessel function in both upper and lower limbs, but the low dose of 5. 6 mg didn't. The reason for these effects from the high

dose flavanols is that cocoa flavanols increase nitric oxide, which is a gas that improves blood vessel function and elasticity. It also lowers blood pressure. Nitric oxide, or NO, is a signaling molecule with vasodilating effects. It lowers blood pressure, reduces blood clot formation, suppresses platelet aggregation, decreases blood vessel inflammation, and improves the transportation of lipids. Reduced nitric oxide availability is implicated in atherosclerosis and hypertension. Endothelial dysfunction, which is characterized by the loss of nitric oxide production, is one of the earliest stages of hypertension and atherosclerosis, which leads to plaque accumulation in the arteries, and this can eventually cause a heart attack or stroke. When you sit for long periods of

time, your body goes through several changes that affect its vascular function. Number one, reduced blood flow. Your leg muscles stop contracting. The muscle pump in your soleus muscles that normally pushes blood back to the heart slows down. Blood flow velocity in the arteries drops significantly because of lack of motion and muscle contraction. As a result, the blood begins pooling in the lower limbs. Number two, reduced shear stress on the endothelium. The endothelium, or the inner lining of blood vessels, senses mechanical forces from the blood flow. When blood flow decreases, shear stress declines, and the endothelial cells receive less stimulation. This is important because shear stress is what normally signals endothelial cells to produce nitric oxide. Number three, reduced nitric oxide production. Lower shear stress leads to a reduced activation of endothelial nitric oxide synthase, or eNOS. As a result, nitric oxide production decreases. Nitric oxide is essential because it relaxes smooth muscles, maintains vascular flexibility, prevents platelet aggregation, and suppresses inflammation. Without enough nitric oxide, you get vasoconstriction, stiffening of the arteries, and endothelial dysfunction. Number four, increased arterial stiffness. Reduced nitric oxide causes contraction of vascular smooth muscles, narrowing of the arteries, and reduced vessel compliance. This leads to temporary arterial stiffening. Number five, endothelial dysfunction. Over time, even acutely during sitting, flow-mediated dilation FMD decreases. Blood vessels become less responsive, and inflammation and oxidative stress increase. This is why prolonged sitting is associated with cardiovascular disease, hypertension, and thrombosis. I said that the cocoa

flavanols counteract this by increasing nitric oxide production. Here's how it looks like specifically. Cocoa flavanols, especially epicatechin, act directly on the vascular endothelium. Number one, they activate eNOS. Flavanols stimulate the PY3K/AKT/eNOS signaling pathway. This restores endothelial signaling even when the shear stress is low during sitting. Number two, increased nitric oxide bioavailability. Flavanols reduce oxidative stress, decrease superoxide radicals, which prevents NO degradation, and you get more nitric oxide concentration. Number three, vasodilation, smoothing of the blood vessels. Nitric oxide diffuses into vascular smooth muscle and activates, which widens blood vessels and lowers blood pressure. Number four, restoration of blood flow. As the vessels dilate, blood flow improves, shear stress partially recovers, and endothelial function also improves. This is why the study saw preserved flow-mediated dilation FMD after cocoa flavanol intake. These cocoa flavanols, they don't just dilate the vessels partially, they restore endothelial signaling, which allows the blood vessels to maintain normal functioning even during prolonged periods of sitting. So, how do

you get these flavanols? One option is the high flavanol cocoa powder that they used in the study. You can make a drink out of it with hot milk or hot water. Mix it, add some glycine, it's going to taste pretty good. But, cocoa isn't the only source of flavanols. A high flavanol cocoa powder with an average serving of 10 to 12 g gives you around 500 to 700 mg of flavanols. Raw cocoa powder, which you buy from the store, contains around 150 to 400 mg for the same amount. Dark chocolate at 70 to 85% cocoa contains 300 to 600 mg of flavanols at a dose of 40 to 50 g. But, higher dark chocolate, 85 to 90%, contains more flavanols at a smaller dose, 250 to 500 mg at 30 to 40 g. Green tea also contains flavonols, but at a much smaller amount. One cup of green tea has around 50 to 100 mg, and black tea 30 to 80 mg per cup. Berries also contain flavonols. One cup of blackberries 70 to 100 mg, blueberries 40 to 60 mg, and strawberries 30 to 50 mg. The research drink contains 695 mg of flavonols from 12 g of cocoa powder. So, to reach that amount naturally, it would look like this. For example, one tablespoon of high flavonol cocoa, that gives you around 600 mg of flavonols. One tablespoon of regular cocoa plus one cup of green tea, 300 to 500 mg. 40 g of dark chocolate plus green tea, 400 to 700 mg. You might not even need to go for the 600 mg dose. The research has speculated that 200 mg of flavonols would already be enough to counteract the harmful effects of sitting. But, if you want to be sure, then go for the 600 mg dose. Cocoa is one of the richest natural sources of flavonols, but it

also raises concerns because some cocoa products contain measurable amounts of heavy metals, such as cadmium and lead. Mercury and arsenic aren't really that common in cocoa. Cadmium is absorbed from the natural volcanic soils where cocoa is grown. Lead comes from mostly processing, storage, and transportation. The darker, healthier cocoa powders and darker chocolates have higher potential for heavy metal exposure because they contain more cocoa solids. But, it's important to realize that heavy metals are part of the natural environment to a certain extent. Yes, you can get exposed to too much of them, and yes, modern environments and modern transportation methods expose the food to higher amounts of heavy metals. But, heavy metals can be found in natural foods grown in natural environments as well. These heavy metals are harmful only in excessive amounts. Here's how to minimize your heavy metal exposure from cocoa. Choose low cadmium regions with less cadmium in the soil, such as West Africa and Indonesia. Latin America tends to be higher. Number two, avoid excessive intake of cocoa. You probably don't want to consume hundreds of grams of cocoa because you'll end up getting a lot of heavy metals. Stick to 10 to 50 grams at max. Three, choose tested brands. Some companies do test their cocoa for heavy metals. Opt for those brands. Avoid Dutch processed cocoa. This is not because of the heavy metals, but because the Dutching process destroys the flavonoids and obliterates the cardiovascular benefits. Despite these issues, cocoa still has amazing

cardiovascular benefits. It improves endothelial function, reduces blood pressure, improves insulin sensitivity, and helps with blood flow while sitting. The key is moderation and sourcing. A reasonable intake for most people is 5 to 15 grams of natural cocoa powder per day or 20 to 30 grams of dark chocolate. This provides you with 200 to 600 mg of flavonols with relatively low heavy metal exposure. The most important message of this video is that too much sitting is certainly bad for you and you want to break up your sitting with periods of movement. Doing the soleus push-ups is a great little hack to also maintain blood flow while sitting, but alternatively you can consume more flavonols from either high flavonol cocoa, dark chocolate, or green tea. If you want to learn more about how to improve your biological age and overall health span without spending hours at the gym, without spending thousands on supplements, and get yourself to top 1% of health without obsessing about it, then check out my online community Youth Longevity Society. It's where you can learn more detailed programs and protocols from me. Link in the description.