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Chocolate Can Keep Cardiovascular System in Shape
Forbes ^ | June 1, 2004 | Ed Edelson

Posted on 06/02/2004 9:15:27 PM PDT by FairOpinion

TUESDAY, June 1 (HealthDayNews) -- For those who think the world is a bitter place, medical science offers this sweet health tidbit: Chocolate might be good for you.

Not just any chocolate, and always in moderation, said Mary Engler, a professor of physiological nursing at the University of California, San Francisco, School of Nursing. But her new study does find that biting into the right stuff can make arteries expand, increasing blood flow and thus reducing cardiovascular risk.

Milk chocolate won't do, Engler sressed, because it's, well, too milky. Look for darker chocolates, because darkness is an indicator of high levels of flavonoids, the chemicals that loosen up the arteries.

And this is one instance where good taste and good health go hand in hand, Engler said.

You can tell that a chocolate has a high flavonoid content because "the flavor is so intense and rich," she said.

The study that Engler and her colleagues are reporting in the Journal of the American College of Nutrition had 11 willing participants eat 1.6 ounces of flavonoid-rich chocolate every day for two weeks. Another 10 volunteers, sacrificing themselves for science, consumed an equal amount of low-flavonoid chocolate.

Ultrasound measurements showed that expansion of the arteries in response to greater blood flow increased by 10 percent in the flavonoid consumers, while there was a slight decrease in those who got the flavonoid-poor chocolate. Blood levels of a powerful flavonoid, epicatechin, rose more than eightfold for the high-flavonoid group and remained unchanged for the others.

The study was done in collaboration with the Jean Mayer USDA Human Nutrition Research Center on Aging at Tufts University. Jeffrey Blumberg, chief of the center's Antioxidant Research Laboratory, said the work has expanded to look at other flavonoid-containing foods.

"Not only chocolate, but also tea, oat bran, almond skins and blueberries, all are good sources of flavonoids," Blumberg said. "We're trying to get a better understanding of vital chemicals, flavonoids being one of the larger groups."

Chocolate "happens to be a rich source of flavonoids," Blumberg said, but he added that "we are not trying to position chocolate as a health food."

In addition to flavonoids, chocolate also has a lot of calories and a lot of saturated fat, neither of which is good for the arteries, he said.

"But in the context of a reasonable diet, chocolate is not only a pleasurable food but might contain some health-promoting ingredients," Blumberg said.

Recommendations about chocolate can be compared with those about wine, Engler said. An occasional glass or two of wine has been shown to be associated with a reduced risk of cardiovascular disease, she said, "but people should not be overindulgent with wine. The same is true of dark chocolate in moderation as part of a well-balanced diet."


TOPICS: News/Current Events
KEYWORDS: chocolate; flavonoids; health; heart
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1 posted on 06/02/2004 9:15:28 PM PDT by FairOpinion
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To: FairOpinion

The Milky Way Midnight bars with the dark chocolate are sooooooo good. And now they're good for me too :-)


2 posted on 06/02/2004 9:24:30 PM PDT by barker (Normal people scare me.)
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To: FairOpinion

Bummer. I don't do dark chocolate...as I bite into a Godiva milk chocolate Open Oyster.


3 posted on 06/02/2004 9:24:39 PM PDT by mrs tiggywinkle (AMERICA, LAND OF THE FREE **BECAUSE** OF THE BRAVE.)
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To: FairOpinion

Nope! Cannot and will not accept that lighter chocolates aren't good for you but darker chocolates are. My favorite is lighter chocolates (really love my snickers bar too)/


4 posted on 06/02/2004 9:28:08 PM PDT by lilylangtree (Veni, Vidi, Vici)
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To: mrs tiggywinkle

Actually I am sure there is good stuff in milk chocolate, just not as much. You probably have to eat twice as much milk chocolate to make up for it. ;)


5 posted on 06/02/2004 9:28:24 PM PDT by FairOpinion (If you are not voting for Bush, you are voting for the terrorists.)
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To: FairOpinion

I knew it!!


6 posted on 06/02/2004 9:30:01 PM PDT by Let's Roll (Kerry is a self-confessed unindicted war criminal or ... a traitor to his country in a time of war)
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To: FairOpinion
I'm not a sweet eater but when I do indulge, it's dark chocolate.
Does Ghirardelli Brownie Mix count?? That's just plain fabulous!
7 posted on 06/02/2004 9:30:40 PM PDT by lizma
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To: FairOpinion

Nothing like one or two or eight Shiner bocks diluted with two or three shots of rumple.


8 posted on 06/02/2004 9:32:00 PM PDT by fourdeuce82d
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To: FairOpinion
You probably have to eat twice as much milk chocolate to make up for it.

Not a bad idea. Not a bad idea at all.

9 posted on 06/02/2004 9:32:26 PM PDT by radiohead (Over turning the Opponent Since 2003)
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To: radiohead

In another article I found:

"In fact, a small bar of dark chocolate contains as many flavonoids as six apples, 4.5 cups of tea, 28 glasses of white wine and two glasses of red wine!"

http://www.brinkzone.com/qanda6.html

Probably milk chocolate contains 1/3 to 1/2 as much flavanoids as dark chocolate, so, as I said, you have to eat more milk chocolate to get the equivalent of what's in a piece of dark chocolate.

I am actually amazed that there are more flavanoids in chocolate, than in other well known foods/wine.


10 posted on 06/02/2004 9:38:15 PM PDT by FairOpinion (If you are not voting for Bush, you are voting for the terrorists.)
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To: FairOpinion
I knew there was a reason to take a pan of brownies along with the cole slaw I'm bringing to a picnic tomorrow.....


11 posted on 06/02/2004 9:40:36 PM PDT by ride the whirlwind
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To: ride the whirlwind

And more good news:

E. The Benefits of Eating Chocolate

Narrator: This is Science Today. A recent University of California study has found that people who ate one dark chocolate bar a week experienced an increase in blood vessel dilation, which is an important indicator of cardiovascular health. Researcher Mary Engler says that's because dark chocolate contains flavanols - a class of the heart-healthy flavanoids found in back tea and red wine.

Engler:There is a difference between the dark chocolate and the milk chocolate. Milk chocolate has milk in it and it dilutes out the amount of flavanoids. Dark chocolate has a higher percentage of flavanoids.

Narrator:And surprisingly, study participants didn't raise their cholesterol or weight by eating a dark chocolate bar, two weeks straight.

Engler: Chocolate has always had a bad rap because of the high calories and the fat content, but forty percent of the chocolate is represented as mono and saturate fat - oleic acid - which can lower LDL, or the bad cholesterol. The other sixty percent consists of thirty-five percent of stearic acid, which is cholesterol neutral.

http://www.ucop.edu/sciencetoday/pages/archive/transcripts/2003/sci768.html


12 posted on 06/02/2004 9:42:06 PM PDT by FairOpinion (If you are not voting for Bush, you are voting for the terrorists.)
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To: ride the whirlwind

I bet those brownies will go fast, even if people don't know it's also a health food. ;)


13 posted on 06/02/2004 9:42:52 PM PDT by FairOpinion (If you are not voting for Bush, you are voting for the terrorists.)
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To: FairOpinion

It stands to reason that milk chocolate is better than no chocolate at all. With or without flavonoids. ; )


14 posted on 06/02/2004 9:43:51 PM PDT by skr (Chocoholics Unanonymous Charter Member)
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To: FairOpinion

15 posted on 06/02/2004 9:44:06 PM PDT by doug from upland (Don't wait until it is too late to stop Hillary -- do something today!)
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To: barker

It is not the choclate, but the hydrogenated trans fats included with those candy bars that are so bad for our cardiovascular health.


16 posted on 06/02/2004 9:45:12 PM PDT by television is just wrong
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To: doug from upland

Yumm! :)

I never tried the Dove dark chocolate bar, but I have to look for it, next time I am in the grocery store.


17 posted on 06/02/2004 9:47:00 PM PDT by FairOpinion (If you are not voting for Bush, you are voting for the terrorists.)
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To: StarFan; Dutchy; alisasny; BobFromNJ; BUNNY2003; Cacique; Clemenza; Coleus; cyborg; DKNY; ...
ping!

Please FReepmail me if you want on or off my infrequent ‘miscellaneous’ ping list.

18 posted on 06/02/2004 9:47:19 PM PDT by nutmeg (Land of the Free - Thanks to the Brave)
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To: television is just wrong

See the info (last paragraph) in my post 12.


19 posted on 06/02/2004 9:47:55 PM PDT by FairOpinion (If you are not voting for Bush, you are voting for the terrorists.)
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To: FairOpinion

Drat! And my lifelong taste for "sweet" chocolate has in the past few years... evaporated. As in, I'm indifferent to it. Will bitter chocolate do? Chicken en mole?


20 posted on 06/02/2004 9:48:16 PM PDT by sionnsar (http://trad-anglican.faithweb.com/ ||| sionnsar: the part of the bagpipe where the melody comes out)
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