Research Paper Volume 13, Issue 14 pp 18051—18093

Beneficial effects of dietary supplementation with green tea catechins and cocoa flavanols on aging-related regressive changes in the mouse neuromuscular system

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Figure 1. GTE and cocoa supplementations improve mouse survival rate. (A) Survival rate of mice from control, GTE and cocoa groups; the standard (AIN-93M) diet supplemented with either cocoa or GTE significantly increased the percentage of mice that were alive at the endpoint of experiment compared with control animals. (B) Food intake (expressed as g of food per week and mouse) was reduced in animals fed with the GTE- or cocoa-supplemented diets, this reduction being statistically significant in a period ranging from 105-109 weeks of age. (C) Body weight (g) of animals from the three experimental groups; compared to control mice, no significant changes in body weight were found in animals from cocoa group; a significant reduction in weight was, however, observed in GTE-supplemented mice. Data are shown as the mean ± SEM (number of animals per group: 91 weeks of age, n = 15 in all groups; 107 weeks, control n = 8, GTE n = 13; cocoa n = 15; 114 weeks, control n = 6, GTE n = 12, cocoa n = 11); *p < 0.05 and **p < 0.01 vs. control (Gehan-Breslow-Wilcoxon test, in (A) and multiple t-test (Bonferroni correction), in (B, C).