Chocolate protects the heart and circulation

Dark chocolate for the prevention of cardiovascular diseases

27.12.2012

The „DMW German Medical Weekly Journal“ reported in her „Christmas Issue“ of possibilities of „Cardiovascular prevention“ with the help of cocoa and dark chocolate. Thus, dark chocolate has a positive effect on the cardiovascular system and can prevent numerous heart diseases.

The reason for the health-promoting effect of chocolate are the flavonoids in cocoa, according to the statement of the pharmacologist Professor Dr. med. med. Gustav Belz in the current issue of „DMW“. According to the expert, the health benefits of chocolate clearly outweigh the disadvantages caused by the increased sugar and fat content - as long as the quantities consumed are kept within limits. According to Professor dr. Belz can develop cocoa in heart disease an effect that is comparable in intensity with drugs.

A quarter of a bar of dark chocolate daily protects your health
Chocolate has long been known to have a positive effect on the cardiovascular system due to the cocoa and flavonoids it contains. The pharmacologist with practice for internal medicine, cardiology, clinical pharmacology in Wiesbaden. Professor According to Belz, the consumption of cocoa and dark chocolate in humans affects several „relevant cardiovascular surrogate markers“ Cheap. Thus, dark chocolate can cause positive effects such as arterial vascular dilatation (dilation of the blood vessels), a slight decrease in blood pressure, an inhibition of platelet aggregation (accumulation of platelets) and an increase of the circulating angiogenic progenitor cells (so-called determined stem cells) in the blood. In addition, the cocoa contained an improvement in blood lipid composition and glucose metabolism, the expert explained. According to Professor dr. Belz is already enough to eat a quarter of a bar of chocolate in order to develop a preventative effect on cardiovascular diseases. Belz refers in his statements to dark chocolate with a cocoa content of 85 percent. By contrast, milk chocolate with a low cocoa content and a high milk content, according to the expert, has a significantly lower positive effect, since fewer flavonoids are contained and the milk reduces their uptake in the intestine. Due to the restriction to just one quarter of a bar of dark chocolate a day, Professor Dr. According to Belz, avoiding the weight problems that many chocolate lovers face in the face of the contained around 500 kilocalories in a bar of chocolate (100 grams).

Flavonoids of cocoa with numerous health-promoting properties
As an essential factor for the cardiovascular disease preventive effect of chocolate called the expert contained in cocoa „antioxidant cocoa flavanols catechin and epicatechin“. These cause the biochemical mechanism behind many health-promoting effects of chocolate. The flavonoids form in the cocoa beans dyes and protective substances, wherein the flavonoid content of cocoa powder or chocolate, according to the expert heavily influenced by the manufacturing process. Due to the bitter taste, however, the content is rather low in most commercial products. The extreme case is white chocolate with a flavonoid content approaching zero. The pharmacologist from Wiesbaden, for example, describes enlargement of the arteries as a health-promoting effect of flavonoids, which counteracts high blood pressure and thus reduces the risk of myocardial infarction in the long term. In addition, the flavonoids cause an inhibition of platelet aggregation, which prevents the formation of blood clots in the coronary vessels and thus also reduce the risk of myocardial infarction, said the expert. Professor According to Belz, the flavonoids here can exert a similarly beneficial effect on the antiplatelet aspirin that patients are prescribed after a heart attack. In addition, the plant's active ingredients reduce the inflammatory reactions in the body, which can also have a positive effect on the cardiovascular system, according to the statement of the pharmacologist in the current „DMW“-contribution.

Dark chocolate for the prevention of cardiovascular diseases
The extent to which chocolate consumption actually contributes to the prevention of heart attacks has not yet been proven beyond doubt, but the existing studies suggest that cocoa in heart disease can achieve an effect that is comparable in its intensity to medication, explained Professor Dr. med. Belz. However, a conclusive evidence, for example, of a comparison with placebo drugs - as usual in the testing of the benefits of drugs - has not yet been provided. In addition, so-called double-blind studies in which neither the patients nor the attending physicians know whether a placebo or an active ingredient is administered, because of the typical cocoa taste difficult to carry out, so the statement of the pharmacologist. The present „prospective cohort studies from Holland, Sweden and the USA“ have, according to Professor Belz in cocoa products compared to controls one „dose-dependent greater than 50 percent reduction in mortality especially due to myocardial infarction“ detected. The side effects of dark chocolate were extremely low and the bitter taste of flavonoids usually prevented excessive amounts from being consumed. In addition, the burden of cocoa beans in the past on cocoa beans when eating approximately 25 grams of dark chocolate a day is rather negligible. The pharmacologist Professor dr. According to Belz, dark chocolate and cocoa offer a good opportunity to support other preventive measures against cardiovascular diseases such as healthy eating, physical activity or medications, thus significantly reducing the risk of heart attack in the long term. (Fp)

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Image: Thomas Siepmann