Finally! A Supplement I can Get Excited About

From: Medscape Cardiology http://www.medscape.com/viewarticle/461364_6

Beneficial Effect of Dark Chocolate in Older Hypertensive Patients
Researchers from the University of Cologne, Germany, report in the August 27
issue of JAMA that eating dark chocolate for 2 weeks produced a fall in
blood pressure in 13 otherwise healthy individuals with untreated
hypertension.[7] The 6 men and 7 women aged 55-64 years, with recently
diagnosed and untreated stage 1 mild isolated systolic hypertension, were
randomly assigned to receive consecutive daily doses of either 100 mg dark
chocolate containing 500 mg polyphenols and 480 kcal energy, or 90 mg white
chocolate, also containing 480 kcal and similar nutrients but no
polyphenols. After 14 days, the participants abstained from chocolate for 7
days, then switched groups. The chocolate bars were substituted for foods of
similar energy and macronutrient composition.

Within 10 days of starting the dark chocolate, participants showed
significant reductions in both SBP and DBP. At the end of the 14-day
interventions, SBP had declined significantly by a mean of 5.1 mm Hg (P
..001) and DBP by 1.8 mm Hg (P .002) in patients who consumed dark
chocolate compared with those receiving white chocolate. Blood pressure
levels returned to preintervention levels within 2 days of the end of each
14-day period. There was no effect of either type of chocolate on heart rate
and there were no differences in effects between men and women.

Researcher Dirk Taubert, MD, PhD, and colleagues suggest that the plant
polyphenols that are major constituents of cocoa solids in the dark
chocolate have significant bioavailability and are responsible for the
reductions in blood pressure seen in the study.

Nutritionists traditionally react with alarm to news that confers healthy
properties on chocolate, and this study is no exception, with several
commentators pointing to the high number of calories and fat contained in
chocolate and people's tendency to eat large amounts of it at any one time.
However, several concede that if you must have a chocolate treat, "the
bitterer the better!"

Various cardiovascular benefits reported for chocolate, especially dark
chocolate, have been attributed to antioxidant properties of the polyphenol
flavonoids it contains. A recent paper in Nature confirmed that plain, dark
chocolate resulted in an increase in plasma antioxidant capacity in humans,
but the joint Italian and UK group found that the effect was markedly
reduced when the dark chocolate was consumed with milk or milk chocolate.[8]
"I guess this means to be healthy you should eat chocolate with red wine,"
quipped Andrew L Waterhouse, PhD (University of California at Davis),
adding, "That is, if you believe in the antioxidant hypothesis." Dr
Waterhouse, a chemist, has been at the forefront of research into the
antioxidant properties of wine and chocolate.







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