Chocolate Sauce » high blood pressure

Pomegranate Juice, Grape Juice and Vivix

admin — Tue, 02 Jun 2009 02:52:21 +0000

I was asked a question by @illix012 on Twitter and decided that I couldn’t respond in 140 characters, so I’m posting my response here. He asked what I thought of commercially available juice products such as Pom, Welch’s and Shaklee Vivix.

I like pomegranate juice, and purchase Pom from time to time. I love grape juice, don’t buy it too often but grow grapes and juice them. The stuff we grow is so yummy. No concord grapes for me – I grow cold tolerant wine grapes, press them and freeze the juice so it doesn’t ferment – I’m not a wine drinker.

I have no personal experience with Vivix, but it purports to have equivalent amount of resveratrol as 3,000 glasses of red wine in a month’s supply. According to Shaklee’s web site, the ingredients in Vivix are:

Muscadine Grape extract (Vitis rotundifolia) (fruit pomace), trans-Resveratrol (Polygonumcuspidatum) (root) standardized to a minimum of 98% purity, European Elderberry extract (Sambucus nigra) (fruit), and Purple Carrot extract (Daucus carota sativus) (root)

It sounds OK, but the issue I have with extracts and concentrates is that usually the tests performed on extracts look promising, but when tested on people, the results often aren’t there. I think this is because often tests are performed on a single antioxidant in vitro. However, many antioxidants don’t make it intact through the gut and so the results in vivo are much different than the in vitro tests. See my blog posting on Pills or Food and read the two articles linked in the post.

I’d rather get my antioxidants as close to nature as possible and with all the components they are combined with naturally instead of an extract. That said, I’d like to do some more research on resveratrol. I have seen some reports that make me think that maybe resveratrol in isolation can be of benefit. I’d like to research glutithione supplements for the same reason. Glutithione is a powerful antioxidant that our bodies produce. As we age, production declines, so the thought is that taking a supplement can make up for waning production.

If you know of any published scientific studies regarding resveratrol or glutithione supplements, I’d be interested in the sources. I’d love to see your comments as well.

The End of a Decline in Heart Disease

jbchristensen — Wed, 27 Feb 2008 04:31:02 +0000

Apparently for the past 40 years heart disease has been in decline. However, earlier this month Reuters reported that the trend may be at an end. Researchers from the Mayo Clinic and the University of British Columbia examined the autopsy reports of residents of Olmsted County, Minnesota that died between 1981 and 2004 from unnatural causes.

They found that “declines in the grade of coronary artery disease ended after 1995 and began to climb after 2000.”

While the data do not point to a specific cause of this about face in heart disease, the researchers do note that during this same period of time, Americans’ lifestyle became more sedentary, fast food consumption grew, physical education in schools was reduced and we all increased our consumption of high-fructose corn syrup.

The most disturbing finding in the study was “the youngest age group was the age group with the worse disease[.] This age group will have major problems as they continue to age.”

You can find the Reuters report at:
Autopsies forecast surge in U.S. heart disease | Reuters

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.

Chocolate and Prevention of CVD

jbchristensen — Fri, 24 Aug 2007 17:00:37 +0000

Nutrition & Metabolism | Full text | Chocolate and Prevention of Cardiovascular Disease: A Systematic Review

I came across the study above a while ago, but am just getting around to mentioning it in this blog. This study is not primary research, but rather a review of all MEDLINE publications from 1966 through January 2005 looking for “relations between cocoa, cacao, chocolate, stearic acid, flavonoids (including flavonols, catechins, epicatechins, and procynadins) and the risk of cardiovascular disease.”

One of the things they looked at was whether or not the stearic acid content was detrimental to cardiovascular health. Stearic acid is the type of saturated fat found in cacao. The evidence suggests that it is neutral, unlike other saturated fats, which raise total cholesterol levels.

To quote the results of the study:

The body of short-term randomized feeding trials suggests cocoa and chocolate may exert beneficial effects on cardiovascular risk via effects on lowering blood pressure, anti-inflammation, anti-platelet function, higher HDL, decreased LDL oxidation. Additionally, a large body of trials of stearic acid suggests it is indeed cholesterol-neutral. However, epidemiologic studies of serum and dietary stearic acid are inconclusive due to many methodologic limitations. Meanwhile, the large body of prospective studies of flavonoids suggests the flavonoid content of chocolate may reduce risk of cardiovascular mortality. Our updated meta-analysis indicates that intake of flavonoids may lower risk of CHD mortality, RR = 0.81 (95% CI: 0.71–0.92) comparing highest and lowest tertiles.

It’s a good article. Got a lot of big words, but they do a good job of explaining and referencing the research.

I think I’ll go have some healthy dark chocolate.

Dark Chocolate May be as Good for Blood Pressure as Reducing Sodium Intake

jbchristensen — Sat, 04 Aug 2007 02:59:45 +0000

Here’s an article about a German study that found that dark chocolate may have a small benefit on blood pressure.

Dark Chocolate a Comfort to Early Blood Pressure – Breaking Medical News + CME Teaching Brief® – MedPage Today

I imagine the dark chocolate that was used was still alkalized and processed. Wouldn’t it be great to find a dark chocolate that wasn’t so highly processed, thus preserving more of the flavanols and other antioxidants that provide these health benefits?

Fight Fat with Fat? Nutty!

jbchristensen — Fri, 03 Aug 2007 03:18:11 +0000

Who woulda thunk that you could offset the effects of a meal high in saturated fat by eating another food high in fat–walnuts.

Eating a meal high in saturated fat causes our veins and arteries to narrow, stiffen and the lining to become sticky. This article from RealAge tells us a few things we can do to mitigate the consequences of a high saturated fat meal. Here’s a link to the article:

Not Your Average Nut – RealAge Tip of the Day

Many nutritionists and researchers say replacing some of the fat in our diet with a few nuts will give us an important boost of flavonoids and antioxidants. They say to replace, rather than add, because fat is the most calorie dense of the three main food components (protein, carbohydrates & fats).

The article also mentions the effect of chocolate (dark, of course) on blood vessels. I hope you have deduced that the effects are positive.

Need a Chocolate Fix? Maybe We All Do.

jbchristensen — Wed, 01 Aug 2007 06:12:29 +0000

According to a RealAge article here, “Scientists may one day claim you need the stuff to be at your healthiest.

It’s a theory growing from a study of the diets of a small Indian tribe
in the Panamanian islands. High blood pressure is virtually unheard of
within the group. And tribe members drink three or four 10-ounce
servings of cocoa per day.”

The article continues to say that “dark chocolate is just about your only hope for chocolate that hasn’t had its flavonoids completely destroyed by processing.”

If you’re interested in healthy, dark chocolate products that haven’t been alkalized or dutched, thereby leaving more flavonoids intact, contact me. Info in my “About” page.