[Sca-cooks] chocolate health benefits

[Lonnie D. Harvel]

Is "chocolate" healthy? Yes and No. As many have pointed out, the term 
chocolate is a bit vague. My usual consumption of chocolate is a dark 
dry cocoa I picked up in Sweden stirred into hot, skim milk, with 1 Tbs 
of sugar.

Anyway, here is some more info....

 From the NIH (US):

"Consuming cocoa products in moderate amounts can be healthy[]. Sources 
including a review article published in the January 2005 issue of the 
/American Journal of Clinical Nutrition/ note that flavonoids in cocoa 
have been found to improve vascular function and reduce risk of vascular 
disease. And research published in the June 2005 issue of the /American 
Journal of Hypertension/ demonstrates for the first time that dark 
chocolate has an acute and potent dilating effect on muscular arteries 
and reduces so-called wave reflections, providing a mechanism for how 
chocolate may protect the cardiovascular system."

 From the NIH Research Report: Treating Type 2 Diabetes with Dietary 
Supplements

"Also, researchers in the Diabetes Unit of NCCAM's Division of 
Intramural Research are studying many aspects of diabetes, including 
what happens when the body does not properly react to insulin. Recent 
clinical trials, for example, have been studying whether vitamin C 
supplements are beneficial in diabetes, the safety of glucosamine with 
respect to insulin resistance, and whether dark chocolate lowers blood 
pressure and improves insulin sensitivity. Diabetes Unit staff note that 
a category of functional foods containing polyphenols (also available as 
extracts) may be of benefit for further study in diabetes, including 
green tea (epigallocatechin gallate), dark chocolate (epicatechin), and 
red wine (resveratrol)."

Of course, it ain't all good news. Chocolate can be a problem for people 
with GERD and Hiatal Hernias. Eating chocolate late at night may cause 
problems sleeping soundly.

The full text of one NIH newsletter article:
---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Researchers Ask, ‘Is Chocolate Good for You?’
By Sandra Williams

Chocoholics everywhere have reveled in recent reports that dark 
chocolate might actually be good for their health. Sound like the 
beginning of a new health craze? Well, the jury is still out on the 
long-term health benefits of consuming dark chocolate, but there are 
some promising findings about this sweet indulgence.

What is it about dark chocolate that is potentially good for you? 
Believe it or not, chocolate is a complex substance containing a number 
of valuable compounds including sterols, fiber, minerals and flavonoids. 
The compound currently of most interest is flavonoids, antioxidants 
found in a number of foods such as red wine, green tea, apples, and yes, 
chocolate. What do these antioxidants do? Preliminary evidence suggests 
that they can ward off vascular disease (vascular disease is a precursor 
to heart attacks, strokes, diabetes, dementia and hypertension), in 
part, by helping the body make or preserve a chemical called nitric 
oxide, which improves blood flow. Cocoa is a particularly rich source of 
flavonoids, and dark chocolate typically contains a higher percentage of 
cocoa than other types of chocolate. Basically, the darker the 
chocolate, and the more bitter, usually the better.

Drs. Michael Quon and Rajaram Karne, researchers at the National Center 
for Complementary and Alternative Medicine, are excited by the possible 
benefits of chocolate. Quon, who is chief of NCCAM’s intramural diabetes 
unit, explains, “Chocolate is a tasty food that also has the potential 
for improving metabolic and cardiovascular physiology. It’s what we call 
a functional food—a food that has potential health benefits.” These 
researchers are interested in the benefits of a particular flavonoid 
found in cocoa called epicatechin. They believe this is the active 
ingredient in chocolate that is beneficial for cardiovascular health. To 
test this hypothesis, NCCAM is currently recruiting volunteers for a 
clinical trial (see advertisement on p. 15) that will examine the 
effects of dark chocolate on blood pressure and insulin sensitivity in 
patients with hypertension. They want to know if the epicatechin in 
chocolate can help decrease insulin resistance in hypertensive patients, 
which would in turn increase the production of nitric oxide. Nitric 
oxide helps prevent the constriction of the arteries and capillaries in 
the body, increasing blood flow and improving vascular function. The 
outcome of this study will begin to answer questions about the benefits 
of consuming dark chocolate. Because cardiovascular and metabolic 
diseases are intricately linked, epicatechin may prove to be a valuable 
preventive for a host of conditions including diabetes, obesity, 
hypertension
and cardiovascular disease.

Before you rush out to buy your favorite candy bar, however, there are a 
few things you should know. Most chocolate is not flavonoid-rich. In 
fact, the process used to make chocolate often destroys much of its 
antioxidant properties.

Consumers usually have no way of knowing whether a chocolate product is 
flavonoid-rich. Quon cautions, “It is premature to say that people 
should be eating chocolate for health benefits—most studies have only 
shown short-term benefits.” There is potential, however, and that is 
what NCCAM plans to examine more closely in its dark