High blood pressure, or hypertension, refers to the pressure against artery walls. Often called the silent disease because it has no symptoms, hypertension can increase the risk for heart disease, stroke and kidney disease. Research indicates that increasing your dark chocolate consumption might have beneficial effects on lowering blood pressure.
Dark Chocolate
Derived from cocoa beans, dark chocolate contains essential minerals, including manganese, zinc, potassium and magnesium. In addition, it contains potent antioxidant compounds called flavanoids, which are responsible for most of its health effects, according to the Linus Pauling Institute.
Cardiovascular Disease Risk Factors
Researchers from the University of Illinois reviewed the studies regarding the impact of dark chocolate consumption on risk factors for cardiovascular disease, including blood pressure and cholesterol. At the end of the review, scientists concluded that daily dark chocolate consumption significantly reduced blood pressure in patients suffering from high blood pressure, according to findings reported in the August 2008 issue of the "Asia Pacific Journal of Clinical Nutrition."
Nitric Oxide
Scientists from the University Hospital of Cologne in Germany studied the effects of low doses of dark chocolate on blood pressure with patients with prehypertension and hypertension. For 18 weeks, participants were assigned to 6.3 g of dark chocolate or milk chocolate. At the end of the treatment, researchers discovered that the dark chocolate group experienced decreases in blood pressure compared to the milk chocolate group. Dark chocolate improved blood pressure by increasing nitric oxide output, which in turn dilates blood vessels and reduces blood pressure. Scientists reported their findings in the July 2007 issue of the "Journal of the American Medical Association."
Blood Pressure
In a review that was published in the June 2010 issue of the journal "BMC Medicine," researchers from the University of Adelaide in Australia discovered that prehypertensive and hypertensive subjects consuming 30 mg to 1,000 mg of dark chocolate per day for two to 18 weeks experienced decreases in blood pressure compared to those with a placebo.
References
- Linus Pauling Institute: Flavonoids
- PubMed.gov: Effects of Cocoa Flavanols on Risk Factors for Cardiovascular Disease; J.W. Jr. Erdman et al.; August 2008
- Journal of the American Medical Association; Effects of Low Habitual Cocoa Intake on Blood Pressure and Bioactive Nitric Oxide; D.Taubert et al.; 2007
- PubMed.gov: Does Chocolate Reduce Blood Pressure? A Meta-Analysis; K.Ried et al.; June 2010
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