The COSMOS Trial
The largest clinical study investigating the long-term impact of cocoa extract supplementation and multivitamins on health
The Cocoa Supplement and Multivitamin Outcomes Study
- Largest study on a bioactive
- COSMOS Investigates whether cocoa extract supplementation or multivitamins can have a long-term benefit on health as we age
- Initiated and led by Brigham and Women's Hospital, an affiliate of Harvard Medical School
- Randomized, doubled-blinded, placebo controlled – the gold standard in research
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STUDY PARTICIPANTS
21,000+
comprised of Healthy Women & Men from across the U.S.
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DURATION OF STUDY
5 Years
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AGE OF PARTICIPANTS
60+ Years
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OF COCOA FLAVANOLS
500mg
were evaluated in the study, using a cocoa extract supplement.
COSMOS Outcomes
Cardiovascular Health
This first publication from COSMOS was released The American Journal of Nutrition (AJCN), the premier clinical nutrition journal in the U.S.
In this 5-year study, participants who took the cocoa extract containing 500mg of cocoa flavanols experienced a 27% improvement in important heart health outcomes relative to those in the placebo group.
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+39%
Improvement on important heart health outcomes
Including only those who said they took the supplement in the analysis
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+27%
Improvement on important heart health outcomes.
Including All Participants in the analysis.
Cognitive Function Results
The latest publication related to COSMOS, was just released in The Proceedingsof the National Academy of Sciences (PNAS).
This 3-year ancillary study showed that flavanols work to support brain and memory performance during normal cognitive aging. Participants who started the trial with a lower flavanol intake diet and who took a cocoa extract supplement containing 500 mg of cocoa flavanols experienced an overall 24% increase in flavanol levels, on average, and achieved an average of 16% improvement in memory performance after one year, effectively catching up to those with a higher flavanol intake diet at the start of the study.
Cocoa Extract Supplement Materials
The cocoa extract supplement used in the study was specifically designed to meet the rigorous requirements of human clinical research.
500mg of cocoa flavanols were evaluated in the study using cocoa extract supplementation.
COSMOS Leadership & Partners
COSMOS is a trial that was initiated and led by scientists from Brigham and Women’s Hospital, an affiliate of Harvard Medical School, and conducted in conjunction with the Fred Hutchinson Cancer Research Center.It was co-founded by the NIH, Mars Edge and Pfizer, whose consumer healthcare business is now part of GSK Consumer Health Care.Mars Edge, a segment of Mars, Incorporated to supporting human health through nutrition, contributed to the study in the form of investigator-initiated grants and in-kind funding, including the provision of test materials.