A Little Dark Chocolate Does A Heart Good==HEALTH TIP

SEASON ' S GREETINGS
>>> Dr Subhash Nikale 12/21/05 9:05 AM >>>

 A Little Dark Chocolate Does A Heart Good

Just in time for the candy-clogged holidays, a new Swiss study finds a
little dark chocolate each day could slow hardening of the arteries in
smokers.

 Chocolate is still no substitute for quitting smoking, of course, and the researchers add that the findings are not an excuse to binge on fattening sweets. However, the results do "provide new important information about the potential beneficial effects of cocoa," said study author Dr. Roberto Corti, from the University Hospital in Zurich. 

 

The dark chocolate also halved blood platelet activity, which in turn
decreased the risk of blood clots.

 

 Antioxidant levels in the blood also rose among those who ate dark chocolate. White chocolate did not have those effects, however.

Another expert agreed. "In my view, dark chocolate can be included as
part of an overall heart-healthy diet -- for instance, adequately balancing its calories with a decrease in other desserts and snack foods," said Jeffrey Blumberg, director of the Antioxidants Research Laboratory at the Jean Mayer USDA Human Nutrition Research Center on Aging at Tufts University, in Boston. But he said that

althoughdark chocolate contains high levels of flavonoid antioxidants, "it is not a health food, per se, because of its negative attributes -- that is, fat and sugar. Further, I feel the only appropriate advice to smokers is to quit smoking."
Previous research conducted by Blumberg showed dark chocolate can help lower blood pressure. In that study, his team asked 10 men and women to eat 3.5 ounces of dark chocolate every day for 15 days. All of the people in the study had high blood pressure, but weren't on medication to
treat it. Another study, published in 2004, found that eating 1.6 ounces
of dark chocolate every day for two weeks caused a healthy 10 percent
increase in arterial blood flow.

 

Dark chocolate, according to Corti, has more antioxidants per gram than
other antioxidant-rich foods such as red wine, green tea and berry
fruits. But he is talking about only a bit a day, since chocolate is notoriously rich in unhealthy fat.This article can be accessed directly at:
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Season's Greetings!!