Summary Supply chains of agricultural commodities, such as banana, cocoa, coffee, and tea, are vulnerable to climate change. Their ability adapt depends on assessments change impacts producing regions. Such are, however, missing despite available projections. Here, we analyze how drought, heat stress, heavy precipitation could affect over 1.6 million producers within the Fairtrade supp...

The underlying reasons for the increasing occurrence of male reproductive diseases (MRD) such as hypospadias, cryptorchidism, and testicular cancer (TC) over the last decades are still unknown. It has been hypothesized that the risk of MRD is determined in utero and that pregnancy dietary intake could also affect MRD risk in the offspring. Various studies in animals reported that cocoa and theo...

BACKGROUND The effect of cocoa products on lipid changes is controversial. OBJECTIVES We aimed to identify and quantify the effect of cocoa on total cholesterol, LDL cholesterol, and HDL cholesterol. DESIGN A comprehensive literature search was conducted for relevant trials of cocoa on lipid profile. Weighted mean differences were calculated for net changes in lipid concentrations by using ...

Previous studies have reported the effect of a cocoa-enriched diet on the intestinal immune system in rats. Cocoa contains fibre and polyphenols that can directly influence the intestinal ecosystem and its relationship with the immune system. The aim of this study was to evaluate the effects of a cocoa-enriched diet on gut microbiota, toll-like receptor (TLR) expression and immunoglobulin (Ig) ...

Cocoa and its flavonoids have potential anti-inflammatory properties in vitro and in acute inflammation models in vivo. The aim of the present study was to ascertain the effects of two cocoa-enriched diets on adjuvant arthritis (AA) in rats, considering not only clinical and biochemical inflammatory indices, but also antibody response and lymphocyte composition. Female Wistar rats were fed with...

Arterial stiffness is substantially higher in postmenopausal than in premenopausal women. Daily cocoa intake has been shown to reduce central arterial stiffness in health adults, regardless of age; however, the effect of cocoa-intake frequency on arterial stiffness in postmenopausal women remains unclear. Therefore, the purpose of this study was to investigate the effects of cocoa-intake freque...

It is well known that cocoa and dark chocolate possess polyphenols as major constituents whose dietary consumption has been associated to beneficial effects. In fact, cocoa and dark chocolate polyphenols exert antioxidant and anti-inflammatory activities switching on some important signaling pathways such as toll-like receptor 4/nuclear factor κB/signal transducer and activator of transcription...

Increasing evidence is emerging suggesting a relation between dietary compounds, microbiota, and the susceptibility to allergic diseases, particularly food allergy. Cocoa, a source of antioxidant polyphenols, has shown effects on gut microbiota and the ability to promote tolerance in an oral sensitization model. Taking these facts into consideration, the aim of the present study was to establis...

As the world faces alarming rates of tropical forest loss, some agricultural systems offer a glimmer of hope. In particular, agroforestry, where crops are cultivated in association with trees, provides some of the ecological benefits of natural forest while allowing farmers to make a living off their land (1–3). However, only in agroforestry systems that involve the production of globally trade...