Does Chocolate Prevent Heart Attacks?
Will a chocolate bar a day keep heart attacks away? The candy industry keeps trying to convince us that chocolate is a health food by sponsoring and publicizing studies. One of the latest, in the medical journal Hypertension (July, 2005), shows that eating dark chocolate lowers high blood pressure. Jeffrey B. Blumberg, a professor of nutrition at Tufts University, gave 3.5 ounces of dark chocolate per day for 15 days to 20 people with high blood pressure. Their systolic blood pressure dropped by an average of 11mm. Researchers at the University of California at Davis reviewed a number of recent studies on chocolate and its health benefits (The Journal of the American Dietetic Association, February 2003.) They found that flavan-3-ols, the main flavonoids found in cocoa, are associated with a decreased risk of cardiovascular disease. The article goes on to say that cocoa contains the same nutrients found in other plant foods, including minerals and specific antioxidants that help ward of
