Posted on 12/17/2004 2:25:19 PM PST by Rodney King
Chocolate, wine can aid heart By Sharon Labi December 17, 2004
A DAILY meal of seven ingredients including wine and chocolate could cut heart disease by 76 per cent, Australian researchers have found.
The diet comprising wine, fish, dark chocolate, fruit, vegetables, almonds and garlic, would also increase life expectancy by more than six years in men and five years in women.
Researchers at Monash University, in Victoria, and the Erasmus University Medical Centre, in The Netherlands, studied the effects of the "polymeal" to see if its benefits could match those of a polypill.
Research last year into a polypill found the combination of drugs in one dose could reduce heart disease by more than 80 per cent.
Dr Anna Peeters of Monash University said the meal was almost as effective as the pill.
"We found that if you took this kind of meal and this combination of ingredients, that you'd have an increase in total life expectancy, and for men it was about six and a half years and for women it was about five years," she told AAP.
"If you take this polymeal idea, then you get more years free of cardiovascular disease and less years with cardiovascular disease and that was quite a significant finding."
The seven foods were picked for their benefits on cardiovascular disease, and although olive oil was known to be good for the heart, not enough solid data was available to include it, Dr Peeters said.
But the inclusion of wine and chocolate was good news, especially in the lead-up to Christmas.
"It's been known for a long time that they are both beneficial for cardiovascular disease, they have antioxidant properties," Dr Peeters said.
"On their own, the level of effect is only 14-20 per cent but it's in combination with all these others that you get such a big reduction (in cardiovascular disease) of 76 per cent."
However, it was not open slather on the ingredients: the recommended daily intake was 150ml for wine and 100g for dark chocolate.
Apart from running the risk of boring the palate, eating a diet of only seven ingredients required further study.
"We're not advocating that people should take this particular set of ingredients for the rest of their lives. It was more a paper to illustrate that using a dietary combination, you could get effects similar to pharmaceutical combinations," Dr Peeters said.
"It's really just to show that a healthy diet potentially can have the same effects as a polypill."
Dr Peeters said the polymeal was an effective, non-pharmacological, safe, cheap and tasty alternative to the polypill.
The research was published in this week's British Medical Journal.
Beer can go away. Give me ice and water with my JD.
Fungus-type, or chocolate-type?
Sounds great. Thanks.
YYYYYYYYYYYIIIIIPPPPPPPPPPPPEEEEEEEEEEEEE!!! Woo hoo. I knew we were onto something. Wine, garlic, chocolate.... This diet has it all....
We can get Virginia wine in the Harris Teeter (but not the Bi-Lo) and North Carolina wine at Sam's. R doesn't like local product; he buys Australian!
Rub it in, oh ye with perfect teeth. Enjoy your chocolate truffles.
Brings back memories of the wonderful time I had in Brussels eating pounds of delish Belgian chocolate. Those were the days! Probably exactly the days I'm paying for now.
"I'm not a big fan of almonds"
Interesting about the almonds. I had heard somewhere that it could be any nut. Anyone else know if this may be the case?
At the moment the only bottle of wine in the house is Australian!!!
The Virginia wines I've had are excellent - but they are not cheap.
I use wine a lot in cooking - so I go for the $10 4 liter bottles for that!!!!
Me too. When I'm going 'light'.
You have my sympathies. Some day it may happen to me. My mother has had her gums "done" I don't know how many times ...
I use California schlock for cooking ... we call it "fish wine," because I often make broiled fish in wine, when we can get the fish.
Sympathies to your mom. I totally cured my gums by using those little stick thingies every night that you shove back and forth between your teeth at gumline. Hurt at first but now my gums are like a teen's. Wish they'd work on the rest of me, but so far, no luck.
She used those, but I guess it didn't help. I confess the subject makes me feel ill ...
She also had numerous operations on her feet. It was very sad. But otherwise she's in rambunctious shape for 66.
Oh, good!
I'm short on groceries, not feeling well, and was wondering what to have for dinner.
Chocolate and wine I have.
"...a polypill found the combination of drugs in one dose..."
Polly shmally!
I take my chocolate like my scotch!
Straight!
WHEN????? you can get fish......I thought you lived near the coast..
"California schlock" is a pretty good name - I buy Carlo Rossi. It's great for cooking, and not bad over ice with Sprite!!!
LOL - everything is good over ice with Sprite! (I'm out of Sprite ... or whatever that Bi-Lo house brand calls itself ...)
We're about 4 hours from the coast. Fish is as expensive here as in central Oklahoma, and it's been frozen just as long! If we moved to the farm, at least I could get fresh catfish!
Bofum.
Bless you!
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