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HowToPreventHeartDisease.com |
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Can Chocolate Really Prevent Heart Disease? Being the most liked food in the world, chocolate is made from cocoa beans. Many studies have revealed that it has several health benefits. German researchers recently found that substances called flavanols that are found in cocoa could help people have healthy heart circulation as they get older. On 9 September 2015, a paper published online in the ‘British Journal of Nutrition’ reported that healthy middle-aged people who consumed 2 flavanol drinks a day had lower blood pressure and cholesterol levels than a control group that had similar drinks without flavonols. 105 people aged between 35 and 60 years old were involved in the study. Everyday, they consumed 2 drinks, each made by mixing powder into 500 mls of water. Half of the group were given a powder containing 450 mg of flavanols per serving, while the other half had a powder that tasted the same, but without flavanols. The flavanols contained in the powdered drinks, which were provided by Mars, were extracted from fresh cocoa beans. The participants were unaware of which drink they received, and they were told to continue with their normal eating habits throughout the study. After a month, those who consumed the flavanol drinks had a 3 percent reduction in blood pressure and a drop of 4 percent in total cholesterol. It seems that flavanols help improve the ability of blood vessels to widen and constrict. The health benefits implied that there is a reduction in the risk of cardiovascular disease, coronary heart disease, and heart attack of 1, 0.7 and 0.4 percentage points respectively over the next 10 years.
Though it is hard to infer a person’s health in 10 year’s time just from a one-month long study, some health experts agreed that the benefits could be worthwhile if they help prevent heart disease, especially the study did not reveal any harmful side-effects. Flavanols belong to a class of plant nutrients called flavonoids. Flavonoids help protect plants from environmental toxins and help repair damage. People who eat foods rich in flavonoids seem to benefit from their antioxidant power. Research has shown that antioxidants can help body's cells resist damage caused by free radicals that may be formed through natural human physiological processes like breathing as well as from the environment contaminants such as cigarette smoking. Formation of free radicals can also be the results of diet, stress, alcohol, exercise, inflammation, drugs or exposure to sunlight. Free radicals are believed to accelerate the progression of cancer, cardiovascular disease, and age-related diseases. In addition to antioxidant qualities, flavanols have been shown to possess other benefits related to cardiovascular health, including lowering blood pressure, improving blood flow to the brain and heart, and making blood platelets less sticky. Some studies even connected flavanols to the reversal of memory decline in older adults, too. Nevertheless, chocolate has high calorie content because of its fat and sugar content. So if people eat too much of it they could put on weight, which obviously is not good for the heart. Meanwhile, chocolate has huge variability in flavanol content. Also remember this: not all forms of chocolate contain high levels of flavanols! Cocoa beans naturally has a very strong, pungent taste, that comes from the flavanols. When cocoa is processed into chocolate products, it goes through several steps to reduce this taste. The more chocolate is processed. the more flavanols are lost. While most commercial chocolates are highly processed, the good news is that most major chocolate manufacturers are seeking ways to keep the flavanols in their processed chocolates. Enjoying moderate portions of chocolate, say 1 ounce, a few times per week should be fine. But people should choose dark chocolate over milk chocolate, and cocoa powder that has not undergone Dutch processing (cocoa that is treated with an alkali to neutralize its natural acidity). They should not forget to also eat other foods rich in flavanols including berries, apples, pears, onions and tea.
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