[NYCFarmboy]

Eating More Chocolate May Be Better for Your Health

Tuesday, February 28, 2006

http://www.foxnews.com/printer_frien...186301,00.html

CHICAGO — Leave it to the Dutch to help demonstrate the health benefits of chocolate. A study of older men in The Netherlands, known for its luscious chocolate, indicated those who ate the equivalent of one-third of a chocolate bar every day had lower blood pressure and a reduced risk of death.

The researchers say, however, it's too early to conclude it was chocolate that led to better health. The men who ate more cocoa products could have shared other qualities that made them healthier. Experts also point out that eating too much chocolate can make you fat — a risk for both heart disease and high blood pressure.

"It's way too early to make recommendations about whether people should eat more cocoa or chocolate," said Brian Buijsse, a nutritional epidemiologist at Wageningen University in The Netherlands, who co-authored the study.

Still, the Dutch study, supported by grants from the Netherlands Prevention Foundation, appears to be the largest so far to document a health effect for cocoa beans. And it confirms findings of smaller, shorter-term studies that also linked chocolate with lower blood pressure.

The findings, published in Monday's Archives of Internal Medicine, are based on data collected for more than a decade on Dutch men who were ages 65 and older in 1985. The long-running Zutphen Elderly Study has been used by other researchers to look for risk factors for chronic disease.

This time, researchers examined the eating habits of 470 healthy men who were not taking blood pressure medicine. The men who ate the most products made from cocoa beans — including cocoa drinks, chocolate bars and chocolate pudding — had lower blood pressure and a 50 percent lower risk of death.

The men ate the equivalent of about 10 grams of chocolate a day.

Cocoa beans contain flavanols, which are thought to increase nitric oxide in the blood and improve the function of blood vessels.

"This is a very important article providing epidemiological support for what many researchers have been observing in experimental models," said Cesar Fraga of the University of California Davis, who does similar research but was not involved in the new study.

Buijsse noted the men eating the most cocoa products were not heavier or bigger eaters than the men who ate less cocoa.

Could the study results apply to women?

"Our study consisted of elderly men," Buijsse said. "If you look at the other interventional studies, you see the same effects in men and women, younger people and older people. It may be the findings are generalizable to women, but you never know."

[Mastrap]

Best chocolate to eat has over 80% cocoa solids. Full of good stuff.

[Doofy]

Originally Posted by NYCFarmboy

The men ate the equivalent of about 10 grams of chocolate a day.

10 grams? That's like getting a peck on your cheek from your granny when you really wanted to be making babies with Heidi Klum.

[Big Mac]

interesting analogy

[ghporter]

The 10 grams of chocolate was the equivalent of 1/3 of a chocolate bar? What chocolate bar are they talking about? Now, eating a third of a chocolate bar every day is not bad at all. That's a lot more chocolate than I eat now. But that's saying that "a chocolate bar" is about 30 grams, or just over one ounce. That comes out to about ONE of Hershey's Miniatures bars per day. Still more than I eat every day, but a little disappointing. No mention of chocolate fountains and fresh strawberries? Drat!

[macforray]

I just had a Heshey's Dark Chocolate Kiss. My guess is that I need to eat one more. I feel better already.

[osiris]

Cool. It's not only healthy in nominal amounts, but it also tastes great and makes you feel good. I suppose like all things in life, moderation is the key to healthy living.

[Stradlater]

Originally Posted by macforray

I just had a Heshey's Dark Chocolate Kiss. My guess is that I need to eat one more. I feel better already.

That's the endorphins, not the reduced blood pressure.

[wdlove]

I enjoy eating chocolate. Like everything else it needs to be done in moderation.

[turtle777]

Originally Posted by macforray

I just had a Heshey's Dark Chocolate Kiss. My guess is that I need to eat one more. I feel better already.

Hershey's will kill you. That stuff should not be called chocolate.

[JoshuaZ]

Awww.... now I don't feel so bad about all the chocolate I ate yesterday....

[wdlove]

No reason to feel guilty as along as you enjoyed the chocolate.

Dark chocolate is actually better, it contains more antioxidants.

[Dakar]

Originally Posted by JoshuaZ

Awww.... now I don't feel so bad about all the chocolate I ate yesterday....

Guys aren't supposed to feel guilty about eating chocolate!

[Stradlater]

Originally Posted by what_the_heck

Hershey's will kill you. That stuff should not be called chocolate.

Oooooh. We have a hoity-toity connoisseur among us!