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By Melissa Tennen, HealthAtoZ writer
What comes to mind when you think of healthy foods? Broccoli? Peppers? Spinach? Chocolate? Yes, chocolate. That elixir of the gods may actually be good for your heart.
It's not junk science. Research on chocolate's health benefits is showing up in such medical journals as Circulation and the Journal of the American Medical Association.
Dark chocolate has flavonoids, an antioxidant that may help lower the risk for blood clots and heart disease. Antioxidants mop up free radicals, which can affect your heart health.
A study in the journal Hypertension: Journal of the American Heart Association revealed that dark chocolate may lower blood pressure and help you avoid diabetes. Although the study was small, it did show that among people with high blood pressure, dark chocolate caused a 12 point drop in systolic blood pressure (the top number) and a 9 point drop in diastolic blood pressure (the bottom number).
A study in the journal Nature looked at seven healthy women and five healthy men, ages 25 to 35. They alternated between eating 100 grams of dark chocolate by itself, 100 grams of dark chocolate with a glass of whole milk and 200 grams of milk chocolate. Their blood was checked an hour later and it was found that those who had dark chocolate by itself had the most antioxidants in their blood. Milk chocolate had the lowest antioxidant levels.
Chocolate also contains oleic acid, a monounsaturated fat found in olive oil. This fat is good for your heart. Stearic acid - a saturated fat - is also found in chocolate. According to the American Heart Association, research has shown that stearic acid may even lower cholesterol.
Not all chocolate has this benefit. Dark chocolate seems to have the most flavonoids. Milk chocolate has far fewer, perhaps because it goes through more processing than dark chocolate. White chocolate doesn't appear to have any flavonoids.
All this news doesn't give you a license to gorge on chocolate. Moderation is the key. Foods offer different antioxidants, each working on your body in different ways, functioning as a team. Also, chocolate is calorie-dense when compared to other foods - like broccoli - and it doesn't have fiber or other key nutrients.
It's not yet clear how much dark chocolate you should get in order to reap the benefits, but remember that too much can lead to problems like obesity and diabetes.
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External Sources
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American Heart Association
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American Dietetic Association
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Taubert, D., Berkels, R., Roesen, R., Klaus, W. (2003). Chocolate and blood pressure in elderly individuals with isolated systolic hypertension. Journal of the American Medical Association, 290: 1029-1030.
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Serafini, M., Buigianesi, R., Malani, G., Valtuena, S., De Santis, S., Crozier, A. (2003). Plasma antioxidants from chocolate. Nature, 424, 1013.
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Grassi, D., Necozione, S., Lippi, C., Croce, G., Valeri, L., Pasqualetti, P., et al. (2005) Cocoa reduces blood pressure and insulin resistance and improves endothelium-dependent vasolidation in hypertensives. Hypertension: Journal of the American Heart Association. Published online before print July 18, 2005,46:398.
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This article was reviewed and updated June 2007.
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