Re: A bit of medical news

On Fri, 13 Apr 2007 12:50:17 -0400, Mark Goldberg
<msgoldberg@xxxxxxxxxxxxx> wrote:

An article today about hypertension...

old news doc...

http://www.acupuncture.com/conditions/hypertenc.htm


Hal


mark

---------------

Cocoa, but Not Tea, Lowers Blood Pressure

News Author: Shelley Wood


from Heartwire ? a professional news service of WebMD
April 11, 2007 ? More happy justification for chocolate lovers: blood
pressure (BP) responds favorably to cocoa, but not tea, a new
meta-analysis suggests. Authors of the study say that while both
products are rich in polyphenols, the study findings suggest that
phenols in cocoa may be more active than those in tea. The study appears
in the April 9 issue of the Archives of Internal Medicine.
"Products rich in cocoa may be considered part of a blood pressure
lowering diet, provided that the total energy intake does not increase,"
lead investigator for the study, Dirk Taubert, MD, PhD, from the
University Hospital of Cologne in Cologne, Germany, told heartwire. "I
believe that cocoa is healthier than other sugar confectionary or
high-fat dairy products."


Cocoa Beats Tea for BP

For their study, Taubert and colleagues conducted a literature search
for randomized parallel group or crossover studies evaluating the
effects of cocoa products or black or green tea for at least 7 days.
They identified 10 studies that met their inclusion criteria: 5
randomized trials evaluated cocoa consumption (median, 2 weeks of cocoa
consumption) in a total of 173 subjects and 5 trials evaluated tea
consumption in a total of 343 subjects (in whom tea consumption was
measured for a median of 4 weeks). In both analyses, study participants
were evenly split between active and control groups. In the cocoa
studies, cocoa consumption was typically flavonol-rich chocolate in the
range of 100 g per day; in the tea studies, consumption was in the range
of 4 to 6 cups daily.

In the cocoa studies, systolic BP (SBP) and diastolic BP (DBP) dropped
in the active group as compared with controls; however, in the tea
studies, no differences were seen in BP between the 2 groups. The
authors point out that while the 2 substances contain similar amounts of
polyphenols, the components of these polyphenols differ between cocoa
and tea: cocoa is particularly rich in procyanidins, whereas black and
green tea are rich in flavan-3-ols and gallic acid. It may be that the
polyphenol components in cocoa are more bioavailable, Taubert and
colleagues propose.
Table. Change in Blood Pressure
Blood Pressure
Pooled Change* (mm Hg)
P
Cocoa
Systolic
-4.7
.002
Diastolic
-2.8
.006
Tea
Systolic
0.4
.63
Diastolic
-0.6
.38

*Compared with control group.
Source: Arch Intern Med. 2007;167:626-634.
According to Taubert and colleagues, the effects of cocoa on SBP and DBP
were comparable to those achieved with antihypertensive drugs. "The
magnitude of the hypotensive effects of cocoa is clinically noteworthy;
it is in the range that is usually achieved with monotherapy of
?-blockers or angiotensin-converting enzyme inhibitors," they write. "At
the population level, a reduction of 4 to 5 millimeters of mercury in
SBP and 2 to 3 millimeters of mercury in DBP would be expected to
substantially reduce the risk of stroke (by about 20%), coronary heart
disease (by 10%), and all-cause mortality (by 8%)."

Dr. Taubert acknowledged to heartwire that studies of tea and cocoa have
yielded contradictory results. "The inconsistencies may result from
differences in research question and research focus," he said. For
example, "the reported effects of polyphenols on blood pressure,
endothelial function, or platelet aggregation may be caused by different
mechanisms and different phenols. The transient effects observed after
administration of single phenol doses may be differentiated from the
sustained effects observed after multiple daily doses. Moreover, plant
foods like cocoa or tea contain many different ? 100 and more ? phenol
compounds, but so far, mechanistic studies have focused on the flavonol
monomers catechin and epicatechin, for which significant bioavailability
has been demonstrated. But these may not be the active ingredients as
our meta-analysis indicates."

Dr. Taubert believes his study "will not put the debate to rest, but
foster a new debate and, more important, new research in this field."
Arch Intern Med. 2007;167:626-634.
.

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