Table 2.

Safety assessment of included studies.

Author, Year	Findings
Angel García-Merino, 2020	Not reported
Fulton, 1969	Not specifically reported; but caused gastrointestinal disturbances in one case leading to defaulting intervention
Cheng, 2018	Not reported
Garcia-Yu 2020	Not specifically reported; but did not change body composition
Nishiwaki, 2019	Slight increase in resting glucose levels (especially in the intervention group with normal diets +20 g/day of high-cocoa chocolate)
Wiese, 2019	Not specifically reported; but did not cause significant changes in glucose and liver enzymes AST and ALT
Yoon, 2015	Well tolerated, no subjective adverse events reported. No significant changes in serum biochemistry and haematologic indices (AST, ALT, glucose, blood urea nitrogen, creatinine, hemoglobin, hematocrits)
Shiina, 2019	Not reported
Baba, 2007	All biochemical and urinalysis within normal range at baseline and at 12 weeks (including plasma total protein, albumin, glucose, uric acid, urea nitrogen, creatinine, free fatty acids, phospholipids, total bilirubin, AST, ALT, GGT, alkaline phosphatase, lactate dehydrogenase, sodium, potassium, chloride, proteinuria, glucosuria, urobilinogen, and occult blood).
Ibero-Baraibar, 2014	Not reported
Nickols-Richardson, 2014	Not reported
Njike, 2011	Cocoa products (sweetened and unsweetened) does not adversely affect body weight during short term consumption
Prereira, 2014	Not reported
Ried, 2009	Dark chocolate: unpalatable (n = 2)-withdrew;Tomato extract: gastrointestinal upset (n = 1)-withdrew
Crews, 2008	13 adverse events reported in treatment group compared to 10 in control group. Most are mild to moderate including gastrointestinal disturbances and cold symptoms. One severe adverse event atrial arrythmia (type unknown) was reported in the treatment group and was hospitalised. This event was thought to be not related to the treatment