Study Reveals Chocolate Could Help Prevent Stroke
February 12, 2010
USA Today
By Mary Brophy Marcus
Just in time for Valentine’s Day, research out this week suggests eating chocolate may have a positive impact on stroke. Don’t go buying too many heart boxes just yet, though, say the study authors.
A new analysis, which involved a review of three prior studies, suggests eating about a bar of chocolate a week can help cut the risk of stroke and lower the risk of death after a stroke. But the evidence is still limited, says study author, neurologist Gustavo Saposnik at St. Michael’s Hospital, University of Toronto.
“This is something that requires further investigation,” Saposnik says.
One study they looked at found that 44,489 people who ate one serving of chocolate per week were 22% less likely to have a stroke than people who ate no chocolate. Another study found that 1,169 people who ate 50 grams of chocolate once a week were 46% less likely to die following a stroke than people who didn’t eat chocolate.
The research appears in this week’s Neurology and will be presented at the American Academy of Neurology’s 62nd annual meeting in Toronto in April.
Saposnik says future studies need to address which component in chocolate, the amount, and what kind — white, milk or dark — makes a difference.
New chocolate-stroke studies should also take into account age and gender of consumers, says Italo Mocchetti, a professor in the Department of Neuroscience at Georgetown University Medical Center. Mocchetti, who has studied flavonoids, says this chemical, which is found in cocoa, is linked to anti-inflammatory and anti-cancer properties.
The chocolate-health connection is something many clients are interested in, says Katrina Markoff, owner of the premium chocolate line Vosges.
“We get a lot of customers that come in who only want to eat dark chocolate because they believe that it helps their health — everyone speaks in cocoa percentages now,” Markoff says. “This generation is really interested in super foods.”
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Chocolate is the New Aspirin?
October 27, 2009
FoodNavigator.com
By Catherine Boal
Cocoa can function in the same way as aspirin in preventing heart attacks, according to a new study investigating its effect on blood platelets.
The research will lend further weight to the various health claims now attached to the traditional indulgence.
Dark chocolate has recently been making inroads into the health market as its beneficial antioxidant and flavanoid content becomes more widely publicised and consumers switch from milk or white chocolate to keep up with the trend.
Scientists at the John Hopkins University School of Medicine say that a few squares of chocolate a day can reduce the risk of a heart attack by almost 50 per cent in some cases.
The discovery came after volunteers for a trial on the effects of aspirin were disqualified for eating chocolate, despite being warned that this would interfere with results from the study.
Despite being barred from participating in the drug study, the chocolate-eaters blood was examined and compared with others who hadn’t indulged in order to determine what effect cocoa has on platelets.
Platelets from those who had eaten chocolate clotted more slowly than those who had not – taking an average of 130 seconds to clump together compared to 123.
Professor Diane Becker said: “What these chocolate ‘offenders’ taught us is that the chemical in cocoa beans has a biochemical effect similar to aspirin in reducing platelet clumping, which can be fatal if a clot forms and blocks a blood vessel, causing a heart attack.”
She continued: “Eating a little bit of chocolate or having a drink of hot cocoa as part of a regular diet is probably good for personal health, so long as people don’t eat too much of it, and too much of the kind with lots of butter and sugar.”
The full results of the study were presented to the American Heart Association’s annual Scientific Sessions in Chicago yesterday.
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