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About Epicatechin: The Antioxidant for Your Muscles
Dr. Cho highlights Epicatechin, a flavonoid in foods like dark chocolate and blackberries, for its health benefits. It combats fat inflammation, enhances insulin sensitivity, and supports muscle growth by encouraging tissue formation and inhibiting growth-restricting proteins.
Epicatechin: The Antioxidant for Your Muscles Q&A
Epicatechin is a flavonoid commonly found in fruits (apples, blackberries), vegetables (black beans), beverages (tea, wine), and even in dark chocolate! Epicatechin functions as an antioxidant to reduce fat inflammation stemming from a high-fat diet and helps to downregulate various proinflammatory cytokines to help decrease inflammation and improve insulin sensitivity. Epicatechin has also been shown to help support and maintain muscle growth by promoting myogenesis (the formation of muscle tissues) and inhibiting myostatin – a protein produced to prevent muscle cell growth.
Benefits of Epicatechin Include
- Potent antioxidant
- Increases fat oxidation to help modulate metabolism
- Improves insulin sensitivity in patients with Type II diabetes
- Promotes myogenesis in the muscles to support skeletal muscle growth
- Increases muscle strength by enhancing follistatin
- Reduces muscle fatigue
- Increased exercise performance
- Lower oxidative stress to help prevent dopaminergic neurodegeneration (Parkinson’s Disease)
- Reduces lipid peroxidation and inhibits platelet aggregation (Cardiovascular disease)
- Dilates blood vessel by regulating nitric oxide to help muscle relaxation
- Inhibition of cancer cell growth by inhibiting mitochondrial biogenesis
The Specific Target Conditions of Epicatechin
- Diabetes (Type II Diabetes)
- Parkinson’s Disease
- Cardiovascular disease
- Stroke prevention
- Cancer prevention
- Inflammatory conditions
- Aging
- Ovariectomy-induced bone loss/Osteoporosis
- Gut Health