Reuters reports that an American Heart Association study has found that dark chocolate may help the heart. It is nice to have a study that indicates something that tastes good may also have health benefits. They study, which Reuters said has been backed up by other research on dark chocolate, found that dark chocolate contains flavonoids which are thought to help blood vessels work more smoothly.
"Previous studies suggest flavonoid-rich foods, including fruits, vegetables, tea, red wine and chocolate, might offer cardiovascular benefits, but this is one of the first clinical trials to look specifically at dark chocolate's effect on lowering blood pressure among people with hypertension," said Jeffrey Blumberg of Tufts University in Boston, who led the study.
"This study is not about eating more chocolate," Blumberg added. "It suggests that cocoa flavonoids appear to have benefits on vascular function and glucose sensitivity."
Unfortunately, the health benefits are found primarily in the dark chocolate. Milk chocolate, which is the kind of chocolate found in most candy and other sweets, has much less of the flavonoids and white chocolate contains no flavonoids.
"White chocolate, which has no flavonoids, was the perfect control food because it contains all the other ingredients and calories found in dark chocolate," Blumberg said.
"It's important to note that the dark chocolate we used had a high level of flavonoids, giving it a slightly bittersweet taste. Most Americans eat milk chocolate, which has a low amount of these compounds."
Writing in the journal Hypertension, Blumberg's team said when the volunteers ate the special dark chocolate, they had a 12 mm Hg decrease in systolic blood pressure (the top number in a blood pressure reading) and a 9 mm Hg decrease in diastolic blood pressure (the bottom number) on average.
Blood pressure did not change when the volunteers ate white chocolate.
"This is not only a statistically significant effect, but it's also a clinically meaningful decline," Blumberg said. "This is the kind of reduction in blood pressure often found with other healthful dietary interventions."
