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Chocolate to the Rescue
June 25, 2010: 0 comment(s)
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If you like chocolate and are looking for a way to avoid the guilt from indulging in your cravings, then here’s the good news; small amounts of daily chocolate have been shown to lower blood pressure and reduce the risk for heart disease and stroke.
Frank Ruschitzka, Professor of Cardiology and Director of Heart Failure and Transplantation at the University Hospital of Zurich had this to say, "Basic science has demonstrated quite convincingly that dark chocolate particularly, with a cocoa content of at least 70%, reduces oxidative stress and improves vascular and platelet function.”
He added these cautionary comments, “However, before you rush to add dark chocolate to your diet, be aware that 100g of dark chocolate contains roughly 500 calories. As such, you may want to subtract an equivalent amount of calories, by cutting back on other foods, to avoid weight gain."
Heart disease and stroke is a disease of the blood vessels and occurs when “plaques” develop inside them. Plaques are small clumps of inflammatory cells and fat, called LDL or bad cholesterol, that accumulate in the cells lining the blood vessel walls. Scientists believe that chocolate contains specific chemicals called flavanols that protect blood vessel walls from forming plaques.
Dr. Brian Buijsse at the German Institute of Human Nutrition, Nuthetal, Germany reported that flavanols “…appear to be the substances in cocoa that are responsible for improving the bioavailability of nitric oxide from the cells that line the inner wall of blood vessels, the vascular endothelial cells.”
Nitric oxide is a gas that, once released, causes the smooth muscle cells of the blood vessels to improve blood flow by dilating. Nitric oxide also prevents the bad cholesterol or LDL from forming plaque by making the “vascular endothelium less attractive for white blood cells to attach and stick around.”
Dr. Buijsse led a study that showed if a person ate 7.5 grams of chocolate daily, just one small square of a full chocolate bar, their blood pressure was lowered and their risk for a heart attack and stroke was reduced by 39%.
For ten years his research team monitored chocolate consumption, blood pressure, heart health and strokes of over 19,000 people aged 35-65. They found that those who ate, on average, 7.5 grams of chocolate daily, had 27% fewer heart attacks and 48% less strokes. Of all the chocolate eaten, 57% was milk chocolate, 24% dark chocolate and 2% white.
Chocolate is made with cocoa, milk and sugar. Milk chocolate has very little cocoa and consequently less health benefits. The darker the chocolate the better, so don’t be afraid of the dark! In choosing your chocolate remember, 7.5 grams is only a small square of a full bar. Since obesity causes heart disease, Dr. Buijsse warns, “Small amounts of chocolate may help to prevent heart disease, but only if it replaces other energy-dense food, such as snacks, in order to keep body weight stable.”
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