Why dark chocolate is good for your heart
It might seem too good
to be true, but dark chocolate is good for you and scientists now know why.
Dark chocolate helps restore flexibility to arteries while also preventing
white blood cells from sticking to the walls of blood vessels.
Both arterial stiffness
and white blood cell adhesion are known factors that play a significant role in
atherosclerosis. What's more, the scientists also found that increasing the
flavanol content of dark chocolate did not change this effect. This discovery
was published in the March 2014 issue of The
FASEB Journal.
"However, this increased flavanol content clearly affected
taste and thereby the motivation to eat these chocolates. So the dark side of
chocolate is a healthy one."
To make this discovery,
Esser and colleagues analyzed 44 middle-aged overweight men over two periods of
four weeks as they consumed 70 grams of chocolate per day. Study participants
received either specially produced dark chocolate with high flavanol content or
chocolate that was regularly produced.
Both chocolates had a similar cocoa mass
content. Before and after both intervention periods, researchers performed a
variety of measurements that are important indicators of vascular health.
During the study, participants were advised to refrain from certain energy
dense food products to prevent weight gain. Scientists also evaluated the
sensory properties of the high flavanol chocolate and the regular chocolate and
collected the motivation scores of the participants to eat these chocolates
during the intervention.
"The effect that
dark chocolate has on our bodies is encouraging not only because it allows us
to indulge with less guilt, but also because it could lead the way to therapies
that do the same thing as dark chocolate but with better and more consistent
results," said Gerald Weissmann, M.D., Editor-in-Chief of The FASEB Journal.
"Until the 'dark chocolate drug' is developed, however, we'll just have to
make do with what nature has given us!"
Story Source:
The above story is
based on materials provided
by Federation of American Societies for Experimental Biology. Note: Materials may be edited for
content and length.
Journal
Reference:
1.
D. Esser, M. Mars, E. Oosterink, A. Stalmach, M. Muller, L. A.
Afman. Dark chocolate
consumption improves leukocyte adhesion factors and vascular function in
overweight men. The
FASEB Journal, 2013; 28 (3): 1464 DOI:10.1096/fj.13-239384
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Federation of American
Societies for Experimental Biology. "Why dark chocolate is good for your
heart.". Science Daily, 27
February 2014. <www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2014/02/140227092149.htm>.