Health Benefits of Chocolate?

Quite a few studies have found that chocolate contains flavonoids, a type of polyphenol antioxidant. Research conducted at the University of Scranton has demonstrated that the quality and quantity of antioxidants in chocolate is relatively high when compared to other high-antioxidant foods. Cocoa powder ranks the highest of the chocolate products, followed by dark chocolate and milk chocolate. According to the Chocolate Manufacturers Association, dark chocolate contains about eight times the polyphenol antioxidants found in strawberries.

In November 2001, researchers from Pennsylvania State University found that people with a diet high in flavonoid-rich cocoa powder and dark chocolate have slightly higher concentrations of HDL cholesterol (the good cholesterol) when compared with the control group. This study, however, only investigated the health effects of cocoa in 23 people.

In a more recent study published in Hypertension journal in August 2005, researchers from Italy found that dark chocolate may lower blood pressure in people with hypertension. The research also found that levels of LDL cholesterol in these individuals dropped by 10 percent. It is important to note that this study also used a very small test group with only 20 subjects.


The Bottom Line
It is good to know that chocolate contains ingredients beneficial to health. However, it does not necessarily mean you should eat more chocolate products. Chocolate bars and candies are often high in fat, sugar and calories. Moderation is always the key - having a decadent piece of chocolate once in a while is not going to harm your health, either. If you have a choice, choose dark chocolate for its higher flavonoid content!

If you would like to include more foods with high levels of antioxidants, fruits & vegetables as well as whole grains would be a better bet as they are low in calories and high in vitamins and fiber. For a sensible heart smart diet, emphasize fruits and vegetables, whole grains, fatty fish and choose skinless lean meats.

Chocolate Recipe Substitution: When a recipe calls for chocolate, use dark chocolate (usually less sugar) or even better cocoa powder. To substitute 1 oz of unsweetened chocolate, use 3 Tbsp of dry cocoa + 2 Tbsp of sugar + 1 Tbsp of vegetable oil.

Chocolate: A Health Food ?

I'm a chocolaholic. I've been a lover of chocolate in its myriad forms from before I can remember. As a kid, it didn't get any better than a box of chocolate chip cookies and a glass of milk. So I was intrigued by recent articles about chocolate's newly discovered health benefits. I'd certainly like to believe that chocolate is good for me. And why not? Even Andrew Weil recommends dark chocolate.



grabbing stories in 2002 about chocolate's new-found health benefits stemmed from a study in the American Journal of Clinical Nutrition.1 The study was small, comprising only 23 subjects, and it was funded by the American Cocoa Research Institute. The abstract (summary) of the article, which is what most people read, stated that cocoa and chocolate, when added to a healthy diet, provided antioxidant benefits and increased the good HDL (high density lipoprotein) cholesterol. One antioxidant benefit was to impede the harmful, atherosclerosis-accelerating oxidation of LDL (low density lipoprotein cholesterol, the bad cholesterol). These were the findings that the media trumpeted.



But a closer look at the article wasn't quite as encouraging. The authors acknowledged that the beneficial effects from chocolate were small at best. "It is important to note that the clinical significance of these small differences in indexes of oxidation status remain to be clarified." Meaning that the small differences might have no significance at all. And regarding the so-called benefits of increasing HDL, these weren't significant, as the researchers noted: "the cocoa-chocolate diet had neutral effects on lipids and lipoproteins."



In fact, as if anticipating that this study might be over-hyped, the journal headed the issue with an editorial to put the findings in perspective. In "How good is chocolate?" nutrition expert Paul Nestel noted that plants supply many thousands of healthful substances to the human diet. It is well known that soy, grapes, tea, onions, apples, citrus and many others are rich sources of antioxidants, so it's not surprising that cocoa contains an antioxidant, too. How important is the antioxidant in chocolate? Nestel questioned the importance of chocolate's modest effects on LDL oxidation. He further asked, "Given that there are thousands of flavonoids in the foods that we eat ... should each new finding be greeted as an encouragement to eat that particular source because it contains a special flavonoid?"




from http://www.medicationsense.com/articles/july_sept_03/chocolate.html