Cocoa and health
- From: Earl <neptune@xxxxxx>
- Date: 28 Feb 2006 17:15:00 GMT
Eating chocolate may halve risk of dying
21:00 27 February 2006
NewScientist.com news service
Gaia Vince
Regular consumption of cocoa may halve risk of dying and lower
blood pressure, suggests a Dutch study in elderly men. But it is
not necessarily good news for chocoholics, experts caution.
At five year intervals over a 15-year period, 470 men aged over
65 were questioned about their dietary intake of cocoa and
received physical examinations. The men were placed in three
groups according to their level of cocoa consumption and data
about their health was collected. During the study, 314 men
died, 152 due to cardiovascular disease.
?The men in the group that consumed the least cocoa were twice
as likely to die from a heart attack than those in the group
that consumed the most cocoa ? at least 4g per day ? and the
risk remained lower even when other factors such as smoking,
physical exercise and weight were taken into account,? says lead
researcher Brian Buijsse, at the Dutch National Institute for
Public Health and the Environment.
?And men in the study who consumed the most cocoa were less
likely to die of any cause,? he adds.
Insulin sensitivity
The high-cocoa men also had significantly lower blood pressure
than the other groups ? but Buijsse says that the link between
low blood pressure and reduced risk of cardiovascular disease
cannot be made from his results. Instead, he says that cocoa-
containing antioxidant chemicals, called flavanols, may be the
cause.
?Flavan-3-ols have a positive effect on endothelial function
[the function of cells lining the blood vessels] improving the
elasticity of the blood vessels so that they respond better to
changes in blood stream. They also improve insulin sensitivity,?
Buijsse says.
?But chocolate contains many calories, so we are not
recommending that people go out and eat lots of chocolate,? he
adds.
The British Heart Foundation (BHF) also urges caution, saying
that while there is some evidence that when eaten in small
quantities, dark chocolate might have some beneficial effects on
blood vessels and lowering blood pressure, no study has
investigated the long-term clinical effects.
"Healthy" chocolate
?This small study reinforces the fact that more still needs to
be done to determine how eating cocoa affects coronary heart
disease in the long term,? says Cathy Ross, BHF?s medical
spokeswoman.
The study is published just days after confectionary giant Mars
announced in the US it is to market a ?healthy? chocolate bar
with boosted flavanols and added vitamins, which was greeted
with scepticism by nutritionists.
?The key thing to remember about such studies is that chocolate
is more often part of the problem, not the solution,? Ross told
New Scientist.
?Cocoa is rarely tolerable in large amounts in its raw state and
therefore to consume the suggested therapeutic amount you would
have to have 100g of dark chocolate per day. This would mean an
average intake of 500 calories per 100g with an average of 30%
fat content,? she points out.
Journal reference: Archives of Internal Medicine (vol 166, p
411)
.
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