After sitting through a number of incredibly technical presentations today at ASMS I came across a fantastic poster presented by Shunyan Mo of the University of Illinois College of Pharmacy, US. Using an ultrafiltration LC-MS (liquid chromatography – mass spectrometry) assay, Mo and co-workers have shown that certain flavinoids found in cocoa selectively inhibit the cyclooxygenase-2 (Cox-2) enzyme and therefore could have anti-inflammatory effects.

As discussed in this Chemistry World article, Cox inhibitors such as naproxen play a vital role in the treatment of pain and inflammation, but they do have some side effects. To reduce these side effects, a number of pharmaceutical companies developed selective Cox-2 inhibitors, but unfortunately many of these were linked to an increased risk of blood clotting, heart attack and stroke. In 2004, those risks caused a huge embarrassment for Merck & Co., after it was forced to withdraw its blockbuster Cox-2 inhibitor Vioxx (rofecoxib) costing the company in the region of $4.75 billion (£3.3 billion) in legal settlements on top of the billions of dollars of lost sales.

But now, Mo has shown that eating chocolate might help reduce inflammation, and has identified using MS-MS experiments that two oxidation products of the abundant cocoa fatty acid, linoleic acid,  9-hydroxy-10,12-octadecadienoic acid (9-HODE) and 13-hydroxy-9,11-octadecadienoic acid (13-HODE) strongly and selectively inhibit Cox-2.

Perhaps unsurprisingly, the research was funded by US-confectionery company Hershey and the US National Institutes of Health (NIH).

So next time you need to reach for an anti-inflammatory, it might be worth reaching for a bar of chocolate instead – just don’t blame me if you put on a few pounds!

Matt Wilkinson