More Chocolate Benefits
Elaine Magee, over at the Healthy Recipe Doctor, currently has a post up about her favorite chocolatier, Moonstruck Chocolates.
Another study* has demonstrated the benefits eating chocolate, this time on blood pressure reduction. The research, done at the University Hospital of Cologne, Germany, included 44 adults between the ages of 56 and 73 years of age; there were 24 women and 20 men with mildly elevated blood pressure. Participants were allowed no more than 30 calories per day of dark chocolate, about the amount of chocolate in a Hershey's Kiss. At the end of the study the participants eating dark chocolate lowered their systolic blood pressure (top number) an average of nearly 3 points and their diastolic blood pressure (bottom number) an average of almost 2 points. The control group, who were given white chocolate had no appreciable change in their blood pressure for better or worse.
If you decide to try to replicate the study results please remember to keep your daily portions very small; if over-eating chocolate causes you to gain weight your blood pressure will increase, negating all the benefits of your sweet treat.
You might try Elaine's Moonstruck truffle suggestion if they are available to you or my favorite may be an option: Dagoba's organic dark chocolate bar with wild blueberries and lavender oil (yes lavender!). The lavender is really subtle, and if you didn't know what was in there you'd never guess because it doesn't taste like the smell of lavender. This is the best chocolate that I have ever tasted, available widely in the northeast in health food stores and Whole Foods markets. A very tiny square is all that you need to satisfy your sweet tooth and possibly to lower your blood pressure. For the wine drinkers in the group, a really nice treat is one small square of a Dagoba (there are lots of flavors to choose from if you don't like my suggestion) and a small glass of red wine, full of flavonoids and resveratrol, which are both good for heart health. Enjoy!
~Laurie
*Study source: Journal of the American Medical Association, as referenced in WebMD the Magazine (September/October 2007)
Related Topics: Technorati Tags: chocolate, Dagoba, Moonstruck, blood pressure, healthy heart
Another study* has demonstrated the benefits eating chocolate, this time on blood pressure reduction. The research, done at the University Hospital of Cologne, Germany, included 44 adults between the ages of 56 and 73 years of age; there were 24 women and 20 men with mildly elevated blood pressure. Participants were allowed no more than 30 calories per day of dark chocolate, about the amount of chocolate in a Hershey's Kiss. At the end of the study the participants eating dark chocolate lowered their systolic blood pressure (top number) an average of nearly 3 points and their diastolic blood pressure (bottom number) an average of almost 2 points. The control group, who were given white chocolate had no appreciable change in their blood pressure for better or worse.
If you decide to try to replicate the study results please remember to keep your daily portions very small; if over-eating chocolate causes you to gain weight your blood pressure will increase, negating all the benefits of your sweet treat.
~Laurie
*Study source: Journal of the American Medical Association, as referenced in WebMD the Magazine (September/October 2007)
Related Topics: Technorati Tags: chocolate, Dagoba, Moonstruck, blood pressure, healthy heart
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