Health Alert 272
Dear Subscriber:
Today we’ll look at the studies touting the new health benefits of chocolate, and whether you really can make it part of your heart healthy diet.
That’s what the University of California says after studying chocolate’s role in history. Chocolates that retain their phytochemicals during production have similar effects on your blood as drinking red wine or taking an aspirin a day.1
Harvard researchers found a few pieces of chocolate every month might make your life both sweeter and longer. The researchers studied the candy-consuming habits of more than 7,800 men. Those who ate candy 1-3 times a month lived longest. Those who indulged 3 or more times a week died earlier. Those who ate no candy at all died the earliest; up to a year earlier.2
Studies published in the Journal of the American Medical Association3 and Nature4 found that polyphenols in dark chocolate help reduce blood pressure. They also protect the body against oxidative stress. Fruits, vegetables, tea, red wine, and cocoa beans contain these healthful compounds.
Doctors in Finland found a link between chocolate and cholesterol. Those who ate regular chocolate had their HDL levels, (good cholesterol) go up by 11.4%. Dark chocolate was even better, producing a rise of 13.7%5
And a study of Kuna Indians pointed to cocoa as the main factor in their low rates of hypertension. Those who drank large amounts of the cocoa showed high levels of nitric oxide, which helps open up blood vessels and increase blood flow. This effect disappeared when the Indians stopped drinking the cocoa.6
Before you stock up on Reese’s™ and Snickers™, the chocolate the Kuna Indians drank isn’t the same as from grocery store shelves. The processing strips away many of the healthy compounds. Plus, your average Swiss Miss™ comes loaded with sugar and chemicals.
You can find unadulterated chocolate at your local nutrition store. Look for 70% pure cocoa. It’s a little bitter but the chocolate flavor is strong and satisfying.
To Your Good Health,
Al Sears MD
1 Landers, Susan J.; Sweet Relief, Health & Science, Dec. 2004
2 British Medical Journal December 19, 1998; 317:9-10.
3 Chocolate and Blood Pressure in Elderly Individuals With Isolated Systolic Hypertension, Journal of the American Medical Association, 2003;290:1029, jama.ama-assn.org
4 Plasma Antioxidants from Chocolate, Nature, 424, 1013, 8/28/03, nature.com
5 Mursu J, et al. Dark Chocolate Consumption Increases HDL Cholesterol Concentration. Free Radic Biol Med. 2004 Nov 1;37(9):1351-9.
6 Landers, Susan J.; Sweet Relief, Health & Science, Dec. 2004