This May Not End Well

Some scientists at Wayne State University have found that the chemical epicatechin helps increase the number of mitochondria in our bodies' cells. Despite the Andromeda Strain-scary level of syllables in those things, that could turn out to be good for us.

Mitochondria produce energy in our cells, and more energy means the cells and the parts of the body they make up can do more work. That may or may not sound all that great on Friday afternoon as the clock creeps towards 5 PM, but cells that do more work allow us to exercise more, which benefits us, and also also helps muscle and skeletal tissue stay stronger as we age.

The scientists fed epicatechin to some rats, and made some other rats spend 30 minutes a day on a treadmill. At the end of the 15-day study, the rats on the treadmill were more tired (and probably a little bit ticked at how the groups were sorted out) but they had the same amount of mitochondria in their cells as did the rats fed epicatechin twice a day.

Scientists cautioned that the research had only been done in rats so far and studies on people have yet to be conducted. Therefore, there is no way to be sure that epicatechin would have anything like a similar effect in human cells. Which means you and I should not go out and try to slurp up as much epicatechin as we can find.

No problem, you say. I can't even pronounce that word and I've got no interest in imbibing a bunch of it based on how it was good for rats. Probably tastes awful, right? I don't think I'll have any problem avoiding it. If it's found in Brussels sprouts or turnips or week-old cheese, I'm not sure I'll start adding it to my diet even if it does prove to be helpful for people. What food does contain it, anyway?

Dark chocolate? Back to the maze, rodent-boy, and let the top of the food chain do his business.