Triglycerides are the fats that circulate in your blood. They store unused calories as fat, releasing it to burn as energy when your body needs it. Problems occur when the triglycerides are not used and rise to high levels in the blood. They continue to circulate, causing hardening of the arteries and thickening of the artery walls, where they stick instead of floating freely. Chocolate can play a role in reducing the negative effects of triglycerides.
Increased Blood Flow
Researchers at Johns Hopkins found that chocolate can reduce the tendency of blood platelets to clot in blood vessels that have become narrowed from excess triglycerides. The researchers found that chocolate works in the same way that aspirin does, by reducing the blood cell's inclination to clump and potentially form blood clots. In one test, the blood platelets from people who had eaten dark chocolate, clumped at slower rates than for those who had not eaten chocolate.
Reductions in Blood Pressure
Chocolate contains chemicals called flavonoids, which are also found in apples, cherries and tea. Harvard Health Publications explains that flavonoids help the arteries produce nitric oxide which widens blood vessels and keeps them smooth, counteracting the effects of high triglycerides. The publication cites studies done in Greece, Germany and Switzerland that showed increases in nitric oxide after volunteers ate about 3.5 oz. of dark chocolate. With widened blood vessels, blood pressure dropped in some of the volunteers. However, the authors caution that some volunteers did not see any benefit.
Lower Platelet Wastes
Johns Hopkins researchers found that people who ate chocolate had less waste activity from blood platelets than those who hadn't eaten chocolate. Waste products produced by platelet activity increase the amount of platelet clumping and restrict the free flow of blood through the arteries. The researchers concluded that people with a mildly elevated risk of heart disease, such as those with high triglyceride levels, can benefit from what the researchers called a "modest dietary practice" of eating chocolate.
Chocolate and Fat
While high levels of triglycerides equals high levels of fat in the blood stream, the fats in chocolate include oleic acid, which is the same heart-healthy fat found in olive oil, and stearic fat, that the Cleveland Clinic says has a neutral effect on cholesterol and therefore on heart disease.
Kinds of Chocolate
All the positive research about chocolate shows that dark chocolate, not milk chocolate, shows benefits for those are risk of heart disease. Katherine Zeratsky, writing for the Mayo Clinic, advises that you choose chocolate with a cocoa content of 65 percent or higher. She also recommends a limit of 3 oz. a day. Zeratsky cautions that the extra 450 calories that come with 3 oz. of chocolate could add excess calories to your daily recommended calorie count.
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