Eat Some Chocolate, For Your Heart

Study: Small Amounts Of Dark Chocolate May Lower Blood Pressure

(CBS/AP)  Here's some good and bad news for chocoholics: Dark chocolate seems to lower blood pressure, but it requires an amount less than two Hershey's Kisses to do it, a small study suggests.

Cocoa confectioner Jacques Torres told CBS News Correspondent Michelle Miller that dark chocolate is wholesome goodness to its very core.

"When you take cocoa bean and break it between your hands, you get the nibs," Torres said. "The nibs don't contain any sugar and are full of antioxidants."

New research from Germany adds to mounting evidence linking dark chocolate with health benefits, but it's the first to suggest that just a tiny amount may suffice.

Volunteers for the study ate just over six grams of dark chocolate daily for almost five months — one square from a German chocolate bar called Ritter Sport, equal to about 1½ Hershey's Kisses. People who ate that amount ended up with lower blood pressure readings than those who ate white chocolate.

The researchers note that eating a small amount of dark chocolate daily is a dietary change that's "easy to adhere to," reports CBS News partner WebMD.

University of Cologne researcher Dr. Dirk Taubert, the study's lead author, said the blood pressure reductions with dark chocolate were small but still substantial enough to potentially reduce cardiovascular disease risks, although study volunteers weren't followed long enough to measure that effect.

The research involved just 44 people aged 56 through 73, but the results echo other small studies of cocoa-containing foods. Cocoa contains flavanols, plant-based compounds that also are credited with giving red wine its heart-healthy benefits.

One problem is chocolate bars containing cocoa tend to have lots of calories, so Taubert and his colleagues tested small amounts containing just 30 calories each.

The study appears in Wednesday's Journal of the American Medical Association. It was funded by University Hospital in Cologne.

The results are interesting but need to be duplicated in larger, more ethnically diverse populations, said Dr. Laura Svetkey, director of Duke University's Hypertension Center.

She stressed that the study results should not be viewed as license to gorge on chocolate.

"I would be as happy as the next person if I got to eat more chocolate," she said. Svetsky cautioned that weight gain from eating large amounts of dark chocolate would counteract any benefits on blood pressure.

Study participants were otherwise healthy and mostly normal-weight German adults with mild high blood pressure or pre-hypertension, which includes readings between 120 over 80 and 139 over 89.

Average blood pressure at the start was about 147 over 86.

Every day for 18 weeks, the volunteers were instructed to eat one-square portions of a 16-square Ritter Sport bar, or a similar portion of white chocolate. White chocolate doesn't contain cocoa.

Systolic blood pressure, the top number, fell an average of nearly three points and diastolic dropped almost two points in the dark chocolate group, compared with no change in blood pressure readings in the white chocolate group.

Tests suggested that steady exposure to dark chocolate prompted chemical changes that helped dilate blood vessels and regulate blood pressure, the researchers said.

Participants were told not to eat other cocoa-containing products and to continue regular eating habits and activity levels. They also kept food diaries so researchers could see if other foods might have influenced the results.

But, said Taubert, "It is very unlikely that other factors may explain the blood pressure reduction."

Chocolate-makers have embraced these findings and have developed new ways to satisfy the sweet tooth and curb the guilt by introducing more varieties of dark chocolates, fortifying them with vitamins and anti-oxidants, reports Miller.

Dark chocolate sales jumped 40 percent last year.

Dr. Lawrence Appel of Johns Hopkins School of Medicine said the most proven non-drug methods for lowering blood pressure are losing weight and eating less salt. Eating dark chocolate might help if combined with those two, he said.

The study was funded by the University Hospital of Cologne. In the journal, none of the researchers report financial ties to any chocolate companies.

For most people, "the lower your blood pressure, the better you are. So if you can get it lower from different strategies, that's good for the long term," Appel said.

[michellem99-2009]

I exterise the best I can. My blood is fine. I know I have the ones eye Dr. said. I try to walk outdoors but can't that well as I am legally blind,have c/p ,epilsesy, so to exterise safely I kinda do to my fave music. Some foods do bring on the head pain. Yes I wear head phones their are others here. Dr runs the tests they come back normal. I hate the cold so am in Seattle. I don't have them if I do not w.hat bring them on. When they hit ,i deal with them. I take breaks from computer.

[Free Citizen]

MichelleM99, migraine could be a sign that you battling an illness. Have you had a thorough blood check to see if you are combating any disease? Long periods of inactivity during the cold season is not good for the body. You need to get out and do some exercise. Most importantly, you need to sweat out your body toxins.

[Free Citizen]

MichelleM99, migraine could be a sign that you battling an illness. Have you had a thorough blood check to see if you are combating any disease? Long periods of inactivity during the cold season is not good for the body. You need to get out and do some exercise. Most importantly, you need to sweat out your body toxins.

[Free Citizen]

It says; "The study was funded by the University Hospital of Cologne. In the journal, none of the researchers report financial ties to any chocolate companies." For sure none of the researches have ties to any chocolate companies but note that it did not deny that the University is getting some funding from the chocolate industry. If this a study of the effect of flavanols on health then why not just study the effect of flavanols/ Why chocolates that has a high sugar content? Especially Ritter Sport that is exceedingly sweet. Surely, the sugar will setback whatever benefit the cocoa offered. I say, it is the psycological effect of getting to eat free chocoloates that lowered the blood pressure. There were no effect on the other group because eating white chocolates is like eating sweetened milk. No joy in that.

[michellem99-2009]

I love chocolate can cause migraines and so I eat very little. If I do then I don't get migraines.Some foods do . Don't drink ice cold water fast I learnt that as I get an awful eye pain caused by migrainess well as head pain . Bear in mind I have only limited sight in one eye. There are sites on migraines. They are not fun. I watch out for what may bring them on. Happy 4 July.

[egjenskis]

What percent % coco should the chocolate be in order to meet the requirements of the study, "6.3 g (30 kcal) per day of dark chocolate containing 30 mg of polyphenols" - JAMA. 2007;298:49-60? (http://jama.ama-assn.org/cgi/content/short/298/1/49) Thank you, Egjen.

[michellem99-2009]

I love chocolate.Yes I felt it has a good side. Pass the kisses please. So when they say it is bad only when you eat to much. Sweet.

[butterfly922]

Not only do studies show heart benefits from chocolate, but there is preliminary evidence that those who eat chocalate may have higher scores on some type tests . Myself I don't need an excuse to
indulge. That being said- on the same page there is a photo essay of chocolate creations mostly easter. I couldn't help but be grossed out by the fact in frame after frame it showed the chocolate being handled by people not wearing gloves. Just think all that chocalate into the mouths of children after being handled without body substance isolation precautions!

[erasmus6]

That figures that it would be the dark chocolate.
The thing is I like milk chocolate, dark chocolate gives me a headache.

Now who is going to stop at just one "kiss" size piece?