|
Flatulence
|
Bloating
|
Stool consistency
|
Ease of movement
|
Abdominal Pain
|
---|
Stage
|
Mean
|
SEM
|
Mean
|
SEM
|
Mean
|
SEM
|
Mean
|
SEM
|
Mean
|
SEM
|
Non-cocoa
|
2.14a
|
0.09
|
1.08
|
0.11
|
2.36
|
0.07
|
1.15
|
0.11
|
0.51
|
0.08
|
Cocoa product A
|
2.07a
|
0.14
|
1.00
|
0.17
|
2.36
|
0.13
|
1.11
|
0.16
|
0.46
|
0.13
|
Cocoa product B
|
2.32a
|
0.14
|
1.11
|
0.15
|
2.18
|
0.10
|
1.16
|
0.16
|
0.52
|
0.10
|
|
p = 0.019
|
N.S.
|
N.S.
|
N.S.
|
N.S.
|
- A 5-point scale was used to answer where 0 indicates no gas, no bloating, watery stool consistency, easy to pass and no pain, respectively; 5 indicates, severe, hard or difficult where appropriate. Effects were evaluated using generalized estimating equations with repeated measures (stage) and one fixed factor (cocoa product) were applied. Where there was a significant main effect, post hoc Bonferroni tests were used to analyse differences between means.