Another Cocoa Study Shows Positive Effects on Hypertension

Here’s a study from The Journal of the American Medical Association that shows that cocoa, or more specifically, the polyphenols in cocoa, has a positive effect on blood pressure. It points out several important facts:

• It doesn’t need to be a huge quantity of dark chocolate to have an effect
• The dark chocolate must be taken regularly
• It must be taken on an ongoing basis

The study was performed on a rather small population (44 individuals) with untreated prehypertension (120-139/80-89) or stage 1 hypertension (140-159/90-99) without any other risk factors. According to the study, the prevalence of hypertension decreased from 86% to 68%. The participants were given either 6.3 g of dark chocolate containing 30 mg of polyphenols or the same amount of white chocolate which contained no polyphenols for a period of 18 weeks.

The study also points out that blood nitric oxide levels increased in the test participants. Nitric oxide is what triggers the dilation of the blood vessels and reduces blood pressure.

Here’s the link to the abstract of the study:

JAMA — Abstract: Effects of Low Habitual Cocoa Intake on Blood Pressure and Bioactive Nitric Oxide: A Randomized Controlled Trial, July 4, 2007, Taubert et al. 298 (1): 49

In my opinion, the thing about eating chocolate as a “medicine” is that healthy individuals probably wouldn’t feel any different, even though the polyphenols would be of benefit. Individuals with cardiovascular disease could probably measure an improvement and may feel healthier.

I know that has been the case with me.

Eat Chocolate to Reduce Hypertension?

In the past, I’ve made a few posts regarding dark chocolate and hypertension. Here’s a link to a brief article that reminds us that indeed, research indicates that dark chocolate can improve blood pressure and may improve cholesterol levels and insulin sensitivity.

http://www.ephit.com/coventry_contest/chocolate.htm

The article also points out that processing removes much of the benefits of the chocolate.

If you’d be interested in dark chocolate that is minimally processed (not dutched and is cold pressed), please e-mail me and I’d be happy to send you some information. My contact info is in the “About” page.

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Black and Blue

One of the things I mention in my disclaimer is to do your own research. One reason for that is ultimately, each of us is responsible for our own health. Your health care provider can’t know everything and can’t keep up with all the research that is constantly presented. You should, of course, tell him/her all prescriptions, herbs and supplements you are taking, but the provider may not know how they all interact.

Herbs, supplements and to some extent, even food interact with each other and with drugs. You need to understand what those interactions and side effects could be. A personal example…

Under the supervision of my cardiologist, I take a prescription anticoagulant (Plavix) along with one full-strength aspirin per day to minimize the possibility of a clot causing another heart attack or a stroke. In researching how I could improve my health, I decided I needed to increase my intake of vitamin C and E. I also was advised by my cardiologist to start taking pharmaceutical-grade fish oil.

In researching the interactions of those vitamins and supplements I found that each is also a “blood thinner.” I found that while taking all of them, I bruised VERY easily. Even the slightest bump would cause a large bruise.

My cardiologist did not indicate that there would be any problem with the supplements I was taking.

I decided to drop the vitamins C and E other than what was in my multivitamin. Fish oil also is a “blood thinner.” So I backed off on the amount of fish oil I take. The bruising seemed to get better.

Maybe I’m a bit of a hypochondriac, but I don’t want to thin my blood to the point that I’m in danger of a hemorrhagic stroke.

Chocolate, besides being a vasodilator, is also a blood thinner. I eat dark chocolate (70% cacao) with blueberries and açai berries on a daily basis for several reasons (the subject of a blog for another day). Again, I had to do some research to learn the known interactions and side effects of everything I take.

Once again, each of us is ultimately responsible for our own health and needs to inform our health care providers
of all supplements we are taking along with the prescription drugs, but also we need to do our own research.

Here are a couple of sites that I’ve found useful for researching interactions and side effects.

http://www.drugdigest.org/DD/Interaction/ChooseDrugs/1,4109,,00.html
http://www.pdrhealth.com/drug_info/index.html (layperson’s version of Physician’s Desk Reference)

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A Plethora of Antioxidant Acronyms

If you’re like me, you might feel like you’ve been dropped in a vat of alphabet soup when you read about anti-aging or antioxidants. I’m no microbiologist or even a whiz at word games, but I’ll give a shot at trying to ’splain some of the acronyms involved in the articles about which I post.

Since many of the articles refer to free radicals along with the acronyms, I’ll start off by trying to explain free radicals. High school chemistry was a very long time ago, but I seem to remember that there are some molecules that are short an electron – have an odd number, or whose valance (outer shell) is not full. These molecules seek to fill that outer shell by either sharing an electron or by “stealing” some from another molecule. Many metals are such molecules, as is oxygen. That’s why oxygen is expressed as O₂. Two oxygen atoms bond together by sharing electrons to fill their outer electron shell. We all know that oxygen will react with metal to create rust. That is oxygen combining with the metals to fill the outer shell.

Here’s an article that explains chemical bonding far better than I can.
http://www.school-for-champions.com/chemistry/bonding.htm

In our bodies, we need oxygen to fuel cellular energy production, but at the same time, oxygen and other reactive molecules can interact with with cell membranes or even DNA. Our cells can fail to function properly or die prematurely due to such damage. Cholesterol can also oxidize, which contributes to the buildup of plaque in our circulatory system. Luckily, our bodies have a defense against this type of damage. We have some enzymes that scavenge the molecules that need extra electrons & “loan” them some. However, many other free radical fighters are contained in food. These “antioxidants” can bond with the free radicals and prevent or minimize cellular damage.

Besides normal metabolism, there are many environmental factors that increase the amount of free radicals in our bodies, such as:

• stress
• smoking
• pollution
• sun overexposure
• radiation

My next post will dive into some acronyms.

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Pills or Food?

My personal feeling has been that eating a food, as close to nature as possible, is better than taking a pill of concentrated essence of whatever. The article below lends credence to that view.

CTV.ca | Antioxidant pills don’t prevent heart disease

The study, done at Brigham & Women’s hospital, followed 8,171 women with three or more risk factors for CVD for over 9 years. Over the course of the study, the women were given either:

• 500 mg vitamin C or a placebo every day
• 600 IU vitamin E or a placebo every other day
• 50 mg beta carotene or a placebo every other day

The researchers found that “There were no overall effects of ascorbic acid, vitamin E, or beta carotene on cardiovascular events among women at high risk for CVD.”

Here’s a link to the abstract of the study.

We’ve seen many studies that show antioxidants have health benefits. However, many of those studies were done in vitro, rather than in vivo. It seems that people are more complex than test tubes!

Many of the clinical trials involving cacao or dark chocolate show health benefits. My own personal experience, while anecdotal, bears out many of the findings. I still plan on posting my experience and results, but not today. One of the reasons I like minimally processed dark chocolate as a “supplement” is that it is a food, rather than a pill that someone has made by attempting to pull out the “good stuff” in the cacao (flavonoids in this case).

Here’s another article that addresses pills v. foods:

The antioxidant myth: a medical fairy tale – health – 05 August 2006 – New Scientist

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ALA, Omega-3 & Omega-6

I came across another blog with some interesting info regarding Omega 3 fatty acids. Take a look.

http://mdonly.wordpress.com/2007/09/03/exploring-alpha-lipoic-acid-as-anti-aging-compound-4/

Here’s a link to the speaker abstracts from the most recent Diet and Optimum Health Conference at the Linus Pauling Institute to which the blog refers. The Institute has some excellent reference information on diet and nutrition.

Chocolate and Prevention of CVD

Nutrition & Metabolism | Full text | Chocolate and Prevention of Cardiovascular Disease: A Systematic Review

I came across the study above a while ago, but am just getting around to mentioning it in this blog. This study is not primary research, but rather a review of all MEDLINE publications from 1966 through January 2005 looking for “relations between cocoa, cacao, chocolate, stearic acid, flavonoids (including flavonols, catechins, epicatechins, and procynadins) and the risk of cardiovascular disease.”

One of the things they looked at was whether or not the stearic acid content was detrimental to cardiovascular health. Stearic acid is the type of saturated fat found in cacao. The evidence suggests that it is neutral, unlike other saturated fats, which raise total cholesterol levels.

To quote the results of the study:

The body of short-term randomized feeding trials suggests cocoa and chocolate may exert beneficial effects on cardiovascular risk via effects on lowering blood pressure, anti-inflammation, anti-platelet function, higher HDL, decreased LDL oxidation. Additionally, a large body of trials of stearic acid suggests it is indeed cholesterol-neutral. However, epidemiologic studies of serum and dietary stearic acid are inconclusive due to many methodologic limitations. Meanwhile, the large body of prospective studies of flavonoids suggests the flavonoid content of chocolate may reduce risk of cardiovascular mortality. Our updated meta-analysis indicates that intake of flavonoids may lower risk of CHD mortality, RR = 0.81 (95% CI: 0.71–0.92) comparing highest and lowest tertiles.

It’s a good article. Got a lot of big words, but they do a good job of explaining and referencing the research.

I think I’ll go have some healthy dark chocolate.

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Top 10 Veggies For Antioxidants

Recently I found an article on RealAge that lists the 10 top veggies for phytochemical and antioxidant content. You can find the article at the link below.

Top 10 Veggies List – RealAge Tip of the Day

From a list of the most widely consumed vegetables, the order was:

1. Broccoli
2. Spinach
3. Yellow onions
4. Red peppers
5. Carrots
6. Cabbage
7. Potatoes
8. Lettuce
9. Celery
10. Cucumbers

If you look at that list, you’ll realize that those are the 10 most widely consumed veggies. You’d probably have to eat an awful lot of cucumbers to get a useful dosage of anything other than water. The top six are pretty decent, but nowhere near the antioxidant levels in cacao.

The researchers also rated fruits for phytochemical content. Here’s how that list came out:

1. Cranberries
2. Apples
3. Red grapes
4. Strawberries
5. Peaches
6. Lemons
7. Pears
8. Bananas
9. Oranges
10. Grapefruit

My personal feeling is that one shouldn’t rely on any one source for phytochemicals or antioxidants. There are so many different kinds and many of them operate in conjunction with other food components and operate on different internal systems in our bodies. We need to make sure our diets are varied and have many sources of healthful and helpful foods.

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Cacao May Stave Off Type 2 Diabetes

A Japanese study, whose results were printed in the journal Nutrition, Volume 23, Issue 4, pp 351-355 concludes that “dietary supplementation with CLPr can dose-dependently prevent the development of hyperglycemia in diabetic obese mice. The dietary intake of food or drinks produced from cacao beans might be beneficial in preventing the onset of type 2 diabetes mellitus.”

CLPr is cacao liquor proanthocyanidins, which are some of the flavonoids found in cacao.

It appears that CLPr may have prevented the increase of blood glucose levels in the diabetic and overweight mice used in the study.

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Cocoa and the Immune System

The University of Barcelona reports that rats fed a cocoa-enriched diet had “significant increases in the total antioxidant capacity in all the body tissues, particularly in the thymus.” The article can be found at the link below.

Cocoa-rich diet may boost thymus antioxidant defences

A link to the abstract is here.

The amount of cocoa that was fed to the rats was pretty high. In one group, the cocoa was 4% of the total food intake, in another group it was 10%. However, I couldn’t find if that was by weight, calorie, volume or how the percentage was measured. The results showed a correlation between the cocoa intake and the antioxidant increase in the thymus.

The thymus produces hormones used in our immune system. Of course, additional studies are necessary to see if the same effects apply to humans…

So what is the optimal intake of antioxidants for humans? Are there different kinds of antioxidants? Does it matter what kind we eat or how we get them? Wow, lots of fodder for future blogs or comments from readers. Feel free to point out some good sources of information or to leave your comments.

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