Dark
Chocolate Is Healthy Chocolate
Dark Chocolate Has Health
Benefits Not Seen in Other Varieties
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Got high blood pressure?
Try a truffle. Worried about heart disease? Buy a bon-bon.
It's the best medical
news in ages. Studies in two prestigious scientific journals say dark
chocolate -- but not white chocolate or milk chocolate -- is good for you.
Dark Chocolate Lowers Blood Pressure
Dark chocolate -- not white chocolate --
lowers high blood pressure, say Dirk Taubert, MD, PhD, and colleagues at the
University of Cologne, Germany. Their report appears in the Aug. 27 issue of
The Journal of the American Medical Association. But that's no license to
go on a chocolate binge. Eating more dark chocolate can help lower blood
pressure -- if you've reached a certain age and have mild high blood
pressure, say the researchers. But you have to balance the extra calories by
eating less of other things.
Antioxidants in Dark Chocolate
Dark chocolate -- but not milk chocolate or
dark chocolate eaten with milk -- is a potent antioxidant, report Mauro
Serafini, PhD, of Italy's National Institute for Food and Nutrition Research
in Rome, and colleagues. Their report appears in the Aug. 28 issue of
Nature. Antioxidants gobble up free radicals, destructive molecules that
are implicated in heart disease and other ailments.
"Our findings indicate
that milk may interfere with the absorption of antioxidants from chocolate
... and may therefore negate the potential health benefits that can be
derived from eating moderate amounts of dark chocolate." Translation: Say "Dark,
please," when ordering at the chocolate counter. Don't even think of washing
it down with milk. And if health is your excuse for eating chocolate,
remember the word "moderate" as you nibble.
The Studies
Taubert's team signed up six men and seven
women aged 55-64. All had just been diagnosed with mild high blood pressure
-- on average, systolic blood pressure (the top number) of 153 and diastolic
blood pressure (the bottom number) of 84. Every day for two weeks,
they ate a 100-gram candy bar and were asked to balance its 480 calories by
not eating other foods similar in nutrients and calories. Half the patients
got dark chocolate and half got white chocolate. Those who ate dark
chocolate had a significant drop in blood pressure (by an average of 5
points for systolic and an average of 2 points for diastolic blood
pressure). Those who ate white chocolate did not.
In the second study,
Serafini's team signed up seven healthy women and five healthy men aged
25-35. On different days they each ate 100 grams of dark chocolate by
itself, 100 grams of dark chocolate with a small glass of whole milk, or 200
grams of milk chocolate. An hour later, those who
ate dark chocolate alone had the most total antioxidants in their blood. And
they had higher levels of epicatechin, a particularly healthy compound found
in chocolate. The milk chocolate eaters had the lowest epicatechin levels of
all.
Chocolate for Blood Pressure: Darker Is
Better
What is it about dark chocolate? The answer
is plant phenols -- cocoa phenols, to be exact. These compounds are known to
lower blood pressure. Chocolates made in Europe
are generally richer in cocoa phenols than those made in the U.S. So if
you're going to try this at home, remember: Darker is better.
Just remember to balance
the calories. A 100-gram serving of Hershey's Special Dark Chocolate Bar has
531 calories, according to the U.S. Department of Agriculture. If you ate
that much raw apple you'd only take in 52 calories. But then, you'd miss out
on the delicious blood pressure benefit. A hint: Don't replace
healthy foods with chocolate. Most people's diets have plenty of sweets.
Switch those for some chocolate if you're going to try the truffle
treatment.
by Daniel DeNoon
WebMD
Medical News Reviewed
By Michael Smith, MD on Wednesday, August 27, 2003
Aug. 27,
SOURCES:
Taubert, D. The Journal of the American Medical Association, Aug. 27, 2003;
vol 290: pp 1029-1030. Serafini, M. Nature, Aug. 28, 2003; vol 424: p 1013.
U.S. Department of Agriculture Nutrient Data Laboratory.
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