Dark Chocolate
Blood Pressure & Cardiovascular Disease
A new
study published on March 30, 2010 in the
European Heart Journal
found that even one square of chocolate a day
can be beneficial. The research was
conducted by Dr. Brian Buijsse and colleagues at
the German Institute of Human Nutrition,
Nuthetal, Germany.
Researchers
followed 19,357 people, aged between 35 and 65,
for at least ten years and found that those who
ate the most amount of chocolate - an average of
7.5 grams a day - had lower blood pressure and a
39% lower risk of having a heart attack or
stroke compared to those who ate the least
amount of chocolate - an average of 1.7 grams a
day. The difference between the two groups
amounts to six grams of chocolate: the
equivalent of less than one small square of a
100 g. bar.**
Chocolate
consumption in relation to blood pressure and
risk of cardiovascular disease in German adults.
Buijsse B., Weikert C., Drogan D., Bergmann M.,
Boeing H.
Department of Epidemiology, German Institute
of Human Nutrition (DIfE) Potsdam-Rehbrucke,
Arthur-Scheunert-Allee 114-116, 14558 Nuthetal,
Germany.
Abstract: Aims to investigate the
association of chocolate consumption with
measured blood pressure and the incidence of
cardiovascular disease. Methods and
results Dietary intake, including chocolate, and
blood pressure were assessed at baseline
(1994-98) in 19 357 participants (aged 35-65
years) free of myocardial infarction and stroke
and not using antihypertensive medication of the
Potsdam arm of the European Prospective
Investigation into Cancer and Nutrition.
Incident cases of myocardial infarction (n =
166) and stroke (n = 136) were identified after
a mean follow-up of approximately 8 years.
Mean systolic blood pressure was 1.0 mmHg [95%
confidence interval (CI) - 1.6 to -0.4 mmHg] and
mean diastolic blood pressure 0.9 mmHg (95% CI -
1.3 to -0.5 mmHg) lower in the top quartile
compared with the bottom quartile of chocolate
consumption. The relative risk of the
combined outcome of myocardial infarction and
stroke for top vs. bottom quartiles was 0.61
(95% CI 0.44-0.87; P linear trend = 0.014).
Baseline BP explained 12% of this lower risk
(95% CI 3-36%). The inverse association
was stronger for stroke than for myocardial
infarction.
Conclusion: Chocolate consumption
appears to lower cardiovascular disease risk, in
part through reducing blood pressure. The
inverse association may be stronger for stroke
than for myocardial infarction. Further
research is needed, in particular randomized
trials.
PMIS: 20354055 [PubMed - as supplied by
publisher]
http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/20354055
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Cacao pods, and the dark chocolate derived
from them, contain a higher concentration of
antioxidants than either red wine or green
tea.
Cocoa powder is created by grinding dried,
fermented cacao seeds and removing the cocoa
butter.
Ancient Mayans and Aztecs prepared sacred
and medicinal brews using cacao.
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