Being a (dark) chocoholic, I always experience a twinge of pleasure when I read about another research study demonstrating the health benefits of dark chocolate. These health-promoting properties stem, in part, from chocolate’s astonishingly high flavonoid levels and its antioxidant activity.
Flavonoids are a diverse group of plant compounds occurring in fruit, vegetables, tea, red wine, and dark chocolate or cocoa. Diets rich in these compounds have been associated with a reduced risk for cardiovascular disease and other chronic diseases. Cocoa and chocolate are rich sources the subclass of flavonoids known as procyanidins.
Recently, a number of nutraceutical manufacturers have been boosting chocolate’s flavonoid levels even higher, creating new products that are very rich in total procyanidins.
In one of the latest chocolate-related studies to be published, Spanish researchers found that a procyanidin-enriched cocoa powder significantly lowered blood pressure in rats with hypertension. In fact, the cocoa product worked just as well for lowering the rats’ blood pressures as the commonly used anti-hypertensive medication, Captopril. You can read the abstract here: http://pubs.acs.org/doi/abs/10.1021/jf804045b
Other studies using various forms of dark chocolate and cocoa, including some studies in humans, have shown how chocolate helps protect against cardiovascular diseases such as heart disease and stroke. It works through various actions, including blood-clot prevention, protection against oxidative stress, and blood pressure-lowering.
If you’re ready to start adding chocolate to your diet to improve your health, you don’t need to be consuming a flavonoid-enriched version to benefit, just make sure you’re eating just an ounce or two of at least 70% dark chocolate, cocoa powder, or cocoa nibs daily. Enjoy!
