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Glossary |
Dark Chocolate
Helps Blood Flow, Scientists Find
8-29-4
-
- MUNICH (Reuters) -- Good news for chocoholics --
eating dark chocolate improves healthy blood flow, according to
research published on Sunday.
-
- Greek scientists said they had demonstrated for the first
time how chocolate improved the function of blood vessels,
allowing them to dilate, thereby preventing the formation of
potentially damaging clots. Dr. Charalambos Vlachopoulos of
Athens Medical School told the annual meeting of the European
Society of Cardiology that eating 100 grams of dark chocolate
improved function in healthy young adults for at least 3 hours.
-
- The heart-protecting properties of dark chocolate, which
contains high levels of a kind of antioxidant called flavonoids,
have been acknowledged for some time.
-
- But the latest research sheds new light on how the mechanism
might work, by protecting blood vessels from the damaging
effects of unstable oxygen compounds called free radicals.
-
- The Greek study involved 17 health volunteers who ate either
100 grams of dark chocolate or a non-chocolate substitute. On
another day the groups were swapped over.
-
- The results showed that functioning of the endothelium, a
thin layer covering the innermost surface of blood vessels, was
improved in the dark chocolate group but not in the other.
-
- Last year, a group of Italian and British scientists found
plain chocolate increased levels of antioxidants in the blood by
nearly 20 percent. Milk chocolate did not have the same effect,
however, possibly because milk interferes with the absorption
process.
-
- Copyright © 2004 Reuters Limited. All rights reserved.
Republication or redistribution of Reuters content is expressly
prohibited without the prior written consent of Reuters.
Reuters
shall not be liable for any errors or delays in the content, or
for any actions taken in reliance thereon.
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