Most Wanted: British women to eat chocolate for a year

Cocoa: “Food of the Gods”

In Aztec culture, cocoa was so highly prized for its medicinal and stimulant value, as well as for its taste, that botanist Linnaeus termed it Theobroma cacao, or “food of the gods.” Unlike modern-day hot chocolate, Aztec cocoa was served without sugar and milk, which today add calories and saturated fat to an otherwise healthful libation.

Polyphenols in cocoa occur in higher concentration than in any other food, and have antioxidant activity much greater than that of broccoli or red wine. In fact, dark chocolate has about 10 times the antioxidant power of spinach as measured by the ORAC test (oxygen radical absorbance capacity). The catechins and procyanidins in cocoa also appear to lower the risk of cancer and heart disease.

“Evidence derived from epidemiological surveys, retrospective studies, and follow-up studies as well as from experimental data, shows that cocoa reduces blood pressure, improves insulin sensitivity, and may slightly ameliorate the lipid profile,” Claudio Ferri, MD, a full professor of internal medicine at University of L’Aquila in Italy, told Life Extension. “All of the above must be considered for the insertion of cocoa in a healthy diet. Cocoa is not a junk food; it [is] a healthy and tasteful food; nevertheless, its high caloric content must be taken into consideration and its ingestion must be accompanied by careful reduction of calories from other sources.”

In a study by Dr. Ferri’s group,5 15 healthy volunteers were randomly assigned to eat either a 100-gram dark chocolate bar rich in polyphenols, or a 90-gram white chocolate bar, which does not contain polyphenols, every day for 15 days. After eating no cocoa or chocolate for a week, the volunteers then switched to the other type of chocolate. Compared with white chocolate, the dark chocolate was associated with lower blood pressure and with improvements in insulin resistance and insulin sensitivity, which are important markers for diabetes.

Of even greater clinical importance, Dr. Ferri’s group did a similar study in patients with high blood pressure and found that dark chocolate, but not white chocolate, decreased blood pressure and serum low-density lipoprotein (LDL) while improving blood flow and insulin sensitivity.6 Studies by other researchers suggest that cocoa proanthocyanidins prevent elevation of blood glucose levels in diabetic obese mice.7

Astoundingly, even small amounts of dark chocolate polyphenols, 30 mg a day or the amount found in a quarter bar of premium dark chocolate, may protect against high blood pressure, according to an 18-week study published this year in JAMA, the flagship publication of the American Medical Association.8

In individuals with mildly elevated blood pressure (130/85 to 139/89 mmHg), those receiving dark chocolate had a small decrease in average blood pressure, by 2.9 mmHg systolic and 1.9 mmHg diastolic. The percentage of this group classified as hypertensive also decreased from 86% to 68%. The group receiving white chocolate had no significant changes.