Cocoa consumption improves some metrics of walking performance among old patients with peripheral artery disease (PAD), according to a new study in Circulation Research. Investigators of the phase II, double-blind COCOA-PAD trial randomly assigned 44 patients with PAD (mean age 72.3 years) to consume a flavanol-rich cocoa beverage or an identically appearing placebo beverage thrice daily. At the 6-month follow-up, cocoa consumption improved the 6-min walking distance measured 2.5 h after drinking the study beverage by 42.6 m compared with placebo, but did not improve the 6-min walking distance measured 24 h after study beverage intake. Furthermore, cocoa consumption did not alter maximal and pain-free treadmill walking distance or brachial artery flow-mediated dilatation but improved calf muscle perfusion and capillary density compared with placebo.