Dark
Chocolate Lowers Blood Pressure
By Daniel DeNoon
Dark chocolate -- not white chocolate -- lowers high blood pressure, say Dirk
Taubert, MD, PhD, and
colleagues
at the University of Cologne, Germany. Their report appears in the Aug. 27 issue
of The Journal of the American Medical Association.
But that's no license to go on a chocolate binge. Eating more dark chocolate can
help lower blood pressure -- if you've reached a certain age and have mild high
blood pressure, say the researchers. But you have to balance the extra calories
by eating less of other things.
Antioxidants in
Dark Chocolate
Dark chocolate -- but not milk chocolate or dark chocolate eaten with milk -- is
a potent antioxidant, report Mauro Serafini, PhD, of Italy's National Institute
for Food and
Nutrition
Nutrition
Research in Rome, and colleagues. Their report appears in the Aug. 28 issue of
Nature. Antioxidants gobble up free radicals, destructive molecules that
are implicated in heart disease and other ailments.
"Our
findings indicate that milk may interfere with the absorption of
antioxidants from chocolate ... and may therefore negate the potential
health benefits that can be derived from eating moderate amounts of dark
chocolate. |
|
Translation: Say "Dark, please," when ordering at the chocolate counter.
Don't even think of washing it down with milk. And if health is your
excuse for eating chocolate, remember the word "moderate" as you nibble. |
"Our findings
indicate that milk may interfere with the absorption of antioxidants from
chocolate ... and may therefore negate the potential health benefits that can be
derived from eating moderate amounts of dark chocolate.
Translation: Say "Dark, please," when ordering at the choc
olate counter.
Don't even think of washing it down with milk. And if health is your excuse for
eating chocolate, remember the word "moderate" as you nibble.
The Studies
Taubert's team signed up six men and seven women aged 55-64. All had just been
diagnosed with mild high blood pressure -- on average, systolic blood pressure
(the top number) of 153 and diastolic blood pressure (the bottom number) of 84.
Every day for two weeks, they ate a 100-gram candy bar and were asked to balance
its 480 calories by not eating other foods
similar in
nutrients and calories. Half the patients got dark chocolate and half got white
chocolate.
Those who ate dark chocolate had a significant drop in blood pressure (by an
average of 5 points for systolic and an average of 2 points for diastolic blood
pressure). Those who ate white chocolate did not.
|