Chocolate Sauce » flavonoid

Dark Chocolate Improves Blood Flow To Heart

admin — Mon, 06 Apr 2009 03:38:56 +0000

A Japanese study, the results of which were published at the American Heart Association’s Scientific Sessions in 2007, suggests that dark chocolate can improve blood flow to the heart. This is important because increased blood flow could reduce the risk of chest pain and maybe even heart attack. The article also reports that other studies have shown dark chocolate can reduce blood pressure and reduce the risk of diabetes.

The author of the study, Yumi Shiina, PhD, of Chiba University in Chiba, Japan, gives credit to flavonoids. Cacao, the main ingredient of dark chocolate, is rich in flavonoids. These compounds are a group of antioxidants that are also found in red wine, tea and fruits and vegetables. She says that cacao has four times as many flavonoids per serving as red wine or tea!

The study involved 39 men who were either given 1.4 oz. of dark chocolate or white chocolate per day. The white chocolate contained no flavonoids, while the dark chocolate did. After two weeks of this regimen, the researchers measured the ability of the coronary arteries to dilate and allow more blood flow to heart muscle tissue. Coronary circulation improved significantly in the participants who ate dark chocolate. There was no change in circulation among the men that ate the white chocolate.

Of course, you need to be aware of the fat and calories in chocolate. Shiina says that perhaps the development of a cacao polyphenol supplement could overcome the problem of fat and calories. I’m a little skeptical there. It seems like whenever a single antioxidant is pulled out of a natural product and made into a supplement the results are less than hoped for. I’d rather eat the dark chocolate and watch my calories. It needs to be dark chocolate with at least 70% cacao.

I eat about 5/8 oz. of dark chocolate per day, which is about 100 calories and six grams of fat.

The fat in chocolate is in the cocoa butter and is composed of about equal parts of oleic acid, stearic acid and palmitic acid. Oleic acid is a heart-healthy monounsaturated fat also found in olive oil. Stearic acid appears to be blood lipid neutral, meaning that it neither raises or lowers blood cholesterol. Palmitic acid does affect blood lipids, but it is only 33% of the total fat in cocoa butter. So it seems that the fat in chocolate isn’t as bad as once thought. However if we talk about milk chocolate, that’s another story entirely. There are lots of added fats and they aren’t the good kind.

Here’s a link to the study on WebMD:

Dark Chocolate May Aid Heart Woes, A Candy Bar A Day Improves Blood Flow To Heart, Study Says – CBS News

Another Cocoa Study Shows Positive Effects on Hypertension

jbchristensen — Thu, 21 Feb 2008 20:31:32 +0000

Here’s a study from The Journal of the American Medical Association that shows that cocoa, or more specifically, the polyphenols in cocoa, has a positive effect on blood pressure. It points out several important facts:

It doesn’t need to be a huge quantity of dark chocolate to have an effect
The dark chocolate must be taken regularly
It must be taken on an ongoing basis

The study was performed on a rather small population (44 individuals) with untreated prehypertension (120-139/80-89) or stage 1 hypertension (140-159/90-99) without any other risk factors. According to the study, the prevalence of hypertension decreased from 86% to 68%. The participants were given either 6.3 g of dark chocolate containing 30 mg of polyphenols or the same amount of white chocolate which contained no polyphenols for a period of 18 weeks.

The study also points out that blood nitric oxide levels increased in the test participants. Nitric oxide is what triggers the dilation of the blood vessels and reduces blood pressure.

Here’s the link to the abstract of the study:

JAMA — Abstract: Effects of Low Habitual Cocoa Intake on Blood Pressure and Bioactive Nitric Oxide: A Randomized Controlled Trial, July 4, 2007, Taubert et al. 298 (1): 49

In my opinion, the thing about eating chocolate as a “medicine” is that healthy individuals probably wouldn’t feel any different, even though the polyphenols would be of benefit. Individuals with cardiovascular disease could probably measure an improvement and may feel healthier.

I know that has been the case with me.

Pills or Food?

jbchristensen — Fri, 07 Sep 2007 22:42:23 +0000

My personal feeling has been that eating a food, as close to nature as possible, is better than taking a pill of concentrated essence of whatever. The article below lends credence to that view.

CTV.ca | Antioxidant pills don’t prevent heart disease

The study, done at Brigham & Women’s hospital, followed 8,171 women with three or more risk factors for CVD for over 9 years. Over the course of the study, the women were given either:

500 mg vitamin C or a placebo every day
600 IU vitamin E or a placebo every other day
50 mg beta carotene or a placebo every other day

The researchers found that “There were no overall effects of ascorbic acid,vitamin E, or beta carotene on cardiovascular events among womenat high risk for CVD.”

Here’s a link to the abstract of the study.

We’ve seen many studies that show antioxidants have health benefits. However, many of those studies were done in vitro, rather than in vivo. It seems that people are more complex than test tubes!

Many of the clinical trials involving cacao or dark chocolate show health benefits. My own personal experience, while anecdotal, bears out many of the findings. I still plan on posting my experience and results, but not today. One of the reasons I like minimally processed dark chocolate as a “supplement” is that it is a food, rather than a pill that someone has made by attempting to pull out the “good stuff” in the cacao (flavonoids in this case).

Here’s another article that addresses pills v. foods:

The antioxidant myth: a medical fairy tale – health – 05 August 2006 – New Scientist

Chocolate Sunscreen?

jbchristensen — Fri, 24 Aug 2007 00:16:28 +0000

Sounds kinda gross. And wow, would the sand ever stick to you at the beach! Not really:-) This article says the preliminary results of a German study show that eating chocolate rich in cocoa solids and flavonoids (in other words, dark chocolate) can fight skin cancer. Subjects were given cocoa to drink. Half the group got cocoa high in flavonoids, the other half got cocoa that tasted the same, but was much lower in the flavonoids.

All subjects were then exposed to UV light. The subjects that received the cocoa high in flavonoids did not redden as much as the other group and their skin was smoother and moister.

Here’s a link to the article:

Food for Thought: Chocolate as Sunscreen, Science News Online, June 10, 2006

Cocoa More Important than Penicillin?

jbchristensen — Mon, 20 Aug 2007 23:05:51 +0000

Norman Hollenberg, a professor of medicine at Harvard Medical School says that epicatechin, one of the flavonoids in cacao, has such powerful health benefits, it “may rival penicillin and anaesthesia in terms of importance to public health.” He thinks it is so important it should be considered a vitamin.

He has spent years studying the Kuna people in Panama, who drink large amounts of cocoa. He found that four of the five most common killer diseases in the industrialized world are significantly reduced. He attributes that reduction to the high levels of epicatechin in cocoa.

As usual, a link to the article is found below.

ScienceDaily: Cocoa ‘Vitamin’ Health Benefits Could Outshine Penicillin