We aimed to investigate the combined effects of aerobic exercise (EXE) and cocoa flavanol (COCOA) supplementation on performance, metabolic parameters, and inflammatory and lipid profiles in obese insulin-resistant rats. Therefore, 32 male Wistar rats (230–250 g) were fed a high-fat diet and a fructose-rich beverage for 30 days to induce insulin resistance. Next, the rats were randomized into four groups, orally administered placebo solution or COCOA supplementation (45 mg·kg⁻¹), and either remained sedentary or were subjected to EXE on a treadmill at 60% peak velocity for 30 min, for 8 weeks. Blood samples and peripheral tissues were collected and processed to analyze metabolic and inflammatory parameters, lipid profiles, and morphological parameters. Supplementation with COCOA and EXE improved physical performance and attenuated body mass gain, adipose index, and adipocyte area. When analyzed as individual interventions, supplementation with COCOA and EXE improved glucose intolerance and the lipid profile reduced the concentrations of leptin, glucose, and insulin, and reduced homeostasis assessment index (all effects were p < .001 for both interventions), while ameliorated some inflammatory mediators in examined tissues. In skeletal muscles, both COCOA supplementation and EXE increased the expression of glucose transporter (p < .001 and p < .001), and combined intervention showed additive effects (p < .001 vs. COCOA alone or EXE alone). Thus, combining COCOA with EXE represents an effective nonpharmacological strategy to treat insulin resistance; it could prevent Type 2 diabetes mellitus by improving physical performance, glucose metabolism, neuroendocrine control, and lipid and inflammatory mediators in the liver, pancreas, adipose tissue, and skeletal muscle in obese male insulin-resistant rats.

我们的目的是研究有氧运动 (EXE) 和可可黄烷醇 (COCOA) 补充剂对肥胖胰岛素抵抗大鼠的表现、代谢参数以及炎症和血脂状况的综合影响。因此，32只雄性Wistar大鼠（230-250克）被喂食高脂肪饮食和富含果糖的饮料30天，以诱导胰岛素抵抗。接下来，将大鼠随机分为四组，口服安慰剂溶液或可可补充剂（45 mg·kg ^-1），并保持静坐或在跑步机上以 60% 峰值速度进行 EXE 30 分钟，持续 8 周。收集并处理血液样本和外周组织，以分析代谢和炎症参数、脂质谱和形态参数。补充可可和 EXE 可改善身体机能并减少体重增加、脂肪指数和脂肪细胞面积。当作为个体干预措施进行分析时，补充可可和 EXE 改善了葡萄糖耐受不良，血脂谱降低了瘦素、葡萄糖和胰岛素的浓度，并降低了稳态评估指数（两种干预措施的所有效果均为 p < .001），同时改善了 一些检查组织中的炎症介质。在骨骼肌中，补充可可和 EXE 均增加了葡萄糖转运蛋白的表达（p  < .001 和p  < .001），并且联合干预显示出累加效应（p  < .001 与单独可可或单独 EXE 相比）。因此，将 COCOA 与 EXE 结合代表了治疗胰岛素抵抗的有效非药物策略；它可以通过改善肥胖雄性胰岛素抵抗大鼠的身体机能、葡萄糖代谢、神经内分泌控制以及肝脏、胰腺、脂肪组织和骨骼肌中的脂质和炎症介质来预防 2 型糖尿病。