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Chocolate lovers have one more reason to
celebrate. It seems that eating just 30 calories a day of dark
chocolate a day can help lower blood pressure, without weight gain
or other side effects, according to a new study.
Foods made out of cocoa contain cocoa
polyphenols, a group of chemical substances found in plants, some of
which, such as the flavanols, are believed to be beneficial to
health. But it was never known how much cocoa was enough to provide
benefits.
Dr. Dirk Taubert of University Hospital of
Cologne, Germany, conducted a study on 44 middle-age adults (age 56
through 73 years) with the early stages of high blood pressure.
For 18 weeks, participants ate either 6.3 g
per day of dark chocolate, which contained about 30 calories and 30
mg of polyphenols, or white chocolate which contains no cocoa and
therefore no polyphenols.
The researchers found that those who ate the
dark chocolate saw their average systolic blood pressure drop by 2.9
mm Hg and diastolic BP by 1.9 mm Hg. And those diagnosed with
hypertension dropped from 86 per cent to 68 per cent.
What's more, no one experienced any changes in
body weight, plasma levels of lipids or glucose levels.
Meanwhile, in the white chocolate group,
systolic and diastolic blood pressure remained unchanged.
"Although the magnitude of the BP reduction
was small, the effects are clinically noteworthy," the authors
write.
"On a population basis, it has been estimated
that a 3-mm Hg reduction in systolic BP would reduce the relative
risk of stroke mortality by eight per cent, of coronary artery
disease mortality by five per cent, and of all-cause mortality by
four per cent.
The study results are published in the
Journal of the American Medical Association.
The researchers say dark chocolate may be
almost as effective at lowering blood pressure as major diet
changes, and is a dietary change that is much easier to adhere to.
"Future studies should evaluate the effects of
dark chocolate in other populations and evaluate long-term
outcomes," the authors conclude.
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