4. Discussion
impaired vascular function
OVERWEIGHT AND OBESITY, INSULIN RESISTANCE, INSULIN SENSITIVITY
Overweight and obesity are associated with the condition of insulin resistance (IR) and impaired vascular function [In opposition to the current results, a calculated index of postprandial insulin sensitivity (ISI) derived from the oral glucose tolerance test [The mechanisms underpinning IGT and IFG are different [The absence of an improvement in insulin resistance measures in this study may have been influenced by the mitigating effects of estrogen on measurements in the pre-menopausal female participants [An important strength of the current study was that the control (LFC) drink was matched to the HFC drink with regard to taste and color, such that participants and study personnel were effectively masked to treatment allocation. In contrast, other studies report using white chocolate as the control for a dark chocolate test product or using milk as the control for a cocoa beverage [Finally, most protocols that have previously demonstrated a positive impact of cocoa-containing foods on measures of insulin sensitivity assess the impact of supplementation on top of, and compared to, a low-flavonoid background diet [