Chocolate can bring you back to good health!
If ever there was good news on the horizon, it's this: chocolate is good for you.
What do you want: drugs or chocolate?
Do you have high blood pressure? Here are your choices: take an expensive drug with side effects that may require other pharmaceuticals to counteract OR eat a chocolate bar. Tough choice, huh?
The chocolate bar in question isn't made by Hershey or Mars. Those chocolate bars are made with lots of sugar and/or high-fructose corn syrup (read my "High-fructose corn syrup may be killing you" blog) plus a lot of preservatives and artificial substances. The chocolate I'm talking about is organic dark chocolate.
All chocolates (except for white) contain polyphenols, which have beneficial effects on health (more about those in a minute). Polyphenols are also found in many other plants, such as blueberries, grapes and nuts. Dark chocolate has many more polyphenols than milk chocolate. It also tastes much stronger, which shouldn't be a problem for most chocolate lovers.
Chocolate is good for your heart and digestion and helps control blood-sugar levels
In study after study, doctors have found that dark chocolate's polyphenols lower blood pressure. It also benefits your heart, lipids and digestive system.
An Italian clinical trial gave 15 subjects either 100 grams of dark chocolate or 90 grams of white chocolate. Researchers in the Department of Internal Medicine and Public Health at the University of L'Aquila discovered that dark chocolate "decreases blood pressure." An added bonus was that it also "improves insulin sensitivity," which means your pancreas will release insulin more readily. The opposite of this action is insulin-resistance, which often results in weight gain and can eventually lead to diabetes.
A study conducted by Greek doctors at the Athens Medical School found that dark chocolate exerts a "protective effect on the cardiovascular system" and has "a beneficial effect on endothelial function," which is a medical barometer for cardiovascular health.
Wouldn't you like to toss out your statin drugs?
Chocolate might help you do that. A Finnish study at the Research Institute of Public Health found that the polyphenols in dark chocolate increase good cholesterol. It also modifies the fatty acid composition of bad cholesterol, making it more resistant to oxidative damage.
Need more reasons to eat dark chocolate?
If lower blood pressure, better cardiovascular function, a better cholesterol ratio and increased insulin sensitivity haven't convinced you to eat more dark chocolate, consider the following studies.
Reduces blood clotting: Thirty subjects in a UK study caused doctors to conclude that dark chocolate could help prevent cardiovascular disease and inhibit blood clots. If you don't already know it, blood clots could cause a stroke or a heart attack. If you're taking dangerous blood-thinning drugs, such as warfarin, maybe you should talk to your doctor about switching to dark chocolate!
Intestinal health: Of all the benefits available, this is certainly the most outlandish - dark chocolate has a mildly anti-diarrheal effect. Maybe they should run a study of people suffering from Crohn's disease or irritable bowel syndrome to see if dark chocolate can provide some relief!
Which dark chocolate is best?
The Dagoba New Moon and Mon Cherri bars are dark chocolate and have very little sugar. The cocoa is organic, as are the other main ingredients. If you can't find these locally, you can order them directly from the manufacturer at the links provided above.
Additional sources:
Am J Clin Nutr. 2005 Mar;81(3):611-4
Am J Hypertens. 2005 Jun;18(6):785-91
Free Radic Biol Med. 2004 Nov 1;37(9):1351-9
Platelets. 2003 Aug;14(5):325-7
J. Nutr. 135:2320-2325, October 2005
* * * * * * * *
I am not a doctor and have no medical training.
The information in this blog is not intended
to diagnose, treat, cure or prevent any disease.
Statements made on this blog
have not been evaluated by the FDA.
Consult a healthcare professional before using any products,
treatments or exercises mentioned on this blog.
What do you want: drugs or chocolate?
Do you have high blood pressure? Here are your choices: take an expensive drug with side effects that may require other pharmaceuticals to counteract OR eat a chocolate bar. Tough choice, huh?
The chocolate bar in question isn't made by Hershey or Mars. Those chocolate bars are made with lots of sugar and/or high-fructose corn syrup (read my "High-fructose corn syrup may be killing you" blog) plus a lot of preservatives and artificial substances. The chocolate I'm talking about is organic dark chocolate.
All chocolates (except for white) contain polyphenols, which have beneficial effects on health (more about those in a minute). Polyphenols are also found in many other plants, such as blueberries, grapes and nuts. Dark chocolate has many more polyphenols than milk chocolate. It also tastes much stronger, which shouldn't be a problem for most chocolate lovers.
Chocolate is good for your heart and digestion and helps control blood-sugar levels
In study after study, doctors have found that dark chocolate's polyphenols lower blood pressure. It also benefits your heart, lipids and digestive system.
An Italian clinical trial gave 15 subjects either 100 grams of dark chocolate or 90 grams of white chocolate. Researchers in the Department of Internal Medicine and Public Health at the University of L'Aquila discovered that dark chocolate "decreases blood pressure." An added bonus was that it also "improves insulin sensitivity," which means your pancreas will release insulin more readily. The opposite of this action is insulin-resistance, which often results in weight gain and can eventually lead to diabetes.
A study conducted by Greek doctors at the Athens Medical School found that dark chocolate exerts a "protective effect on the cardiovascular system" and has "a beneficial effect on endothelial function," which is a medical barometer for cardiovascular health.
Wouldn't you like to toss out your statin drugs?
Chocolate might help you do that. A Finnish study at the Research Institute of Public Health found that the polyphenols in dark chocolate increase good cholesterol. It also modifies the fatty acid composition of bad cholesterol, making it more resistant to oxidative damage.
Need more reasons to eat dark chocolate?
If lower blood pressure, better cardiovascular function, a better cholesterol ratio and increased insulin sensitivity haven't convinced you to eat more dark chocolate, consider the following studies.
Reduces blood clotting: Thirty subjects in a UK study caused doctors to conclude that dark chocolate could help prevent cardiovascular disease and inhibit blood clots. If you don't already know it, blood clots could cause a stroke or a heart attack. If you're taking dangerous blood-thinning drugs, such as warfarin, maybe you should talk to your doctor about switching to dark chocolate!
Intestinal health: Of all the benefits available, this is certainly the most outlandish - dark chocolate has a mildly anti-diarrheal effect. Maybe they should run a study of people suffering from Crohn's disease or irritable bowel syndrome to see if dark chocolate can provide some relief!
Which dark chocolate is best?
The Dagoba New Moon and Mon Cherri bars are dark chocolate and have very little sugar. The cocoa is organic, as are the other main ingredients. If you can't find these locally, you can order them directly from the manufacturer at the links provided above.
Additional sources:
Am J Clin Nutr. 2005 Mar;81(3):611-4
Am J Hypertens. 2005 Jun;18(6):785-91
Free Radic Biol Med. 2004 Nov 1;37(9):1351-9
Platelets. 2003 Aug;14(5):325-7
J. Nutr. 135:2320-2325, October 2005
I am not a doctor and have no medical training.
The information in this blog is not intended
to diagnose, treat, cure or prevent any disease.
Statements made on this blog
have not been evaluated by the FDA.
Consult a healthcare professional before using any products,
treatments or exercises mentioned on this blog.
posted by Edith Gaylord | 5:30 AM
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