The Stram Center for Integrative Medicine

By: Korey DiRoma, ND
There aren’t too many people that I know that don’t like or even crave chocolate. Why is this so?  Simply,  chocolate contains certain chemicals that are  known to improve mood, but research also shows chocolate to have many important  health benefits.

Some of us may have heard that dark chocolate contains “antioxidants” that are beneficial for us. But which antioxidants, how much of them, and how are they good for us?

Catechins and epicatechins are bioflavinoids that act as antioxidants and are found in cocoa, tea leaves (green and black) and wine. Catechins and the consumption of dark chocolate have been shown to significantly induce vasodilation of heart blood vessels, increase heart circulation, and decrease platelet adhesion, or act as a blood thinner  http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/17984375?ordinalpos=1&itool=EntrezSystem2.PEntrez.Pubmed.Pubmed_ResultsPanel.Pubmed_DiscoveryPanel.Pubmed_RVAbstractPlus 
These effects are seen as early as 2 hours after ingestion of 1.5 ounces of cocoa.  One study published in JAMA found that of pre-hypertensive and Stage I hypertensive individuals with no other health conditions, eating as little as 6 g of dark chocolate daily for 18 weeks, lowered their blood pressure on average by 3 points. And, hypertension prevalence within the group decreased from 86% to 68% http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/17609490?ordinalpos=1&itool=EntrezSystem2.PEntrez.Pubmed.Pubmed_ResultsPanel.Pubmed_DiscoveryPanel.Pubmed_RVAbstractPlus  .

What is this now, you say from eating dark chocolate?! Yes… These potent antioxidants help to reduce blood pressure, increase vascular flow in the heart, thin the blood, and reduce inflammation in the body. Sounds like a good thing to me!

Norman Hollenburg, a professor of medicine at Harvard medical school, has gone as far as saying that the epicatechins found in cocoa should be considered a vitamin. Although non-essential, the health effects as stated above, can help to reduce 4 of 5 of the main diseases in the United States; heart disease, cancer, stroke, and diabetes http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2007/03/070311202024.htm.

So how much of these antioxidants are really in cocoa? It must be a small amount, because something so good couldn’t be that good for you, right? Well, cocoa has up to 3 TIMES more of these flavonoids than does red wine, green tea, and black tea. Therefore, cocoa has more health benefits than red wine and tea
http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/14640573?ordinalpos=15&itool=EntrezSystem2.PEntrez.Pubmed.Pubmed_ResultsPanel.Pubmed_DefaultReportPanel.Pubmed_RVDocSum

Another type of chemical found in cocoa are methylxanthines, and these include caffeine and theobromine. Theobromine, just as caffeine, has stimulatory affects, and has been hypothesized to cause the “addictive” effects of chocolate. Even though theobromine can increase the heart rate, it also acts as a vasodilator, thereby reducing blood pressure. Theobromine is also a natural diuretic, so can help alleviate swelling and high blood pressure due to water retention. It can also help to reduce asthma symptoms, as it is relaxes smooth muscles which causes the bronchioles to dilate, or “open up”. In fact theophylline, an older drug used for asthma, is also a methylxanthine like theobromine.

This may seem a little science intensive, so the bottom line is, what does this mean for me? It appears that eating about 1 ounce of cocoa, or at least 60% dark chocolate, as much as 4-5 times per week, could be of great health benefit. This does mean pure DARK CHOCOLATE! White chocolate does not contain cocoa. Commercial chocolates, chocolate ice cream, cakes, pastries, and candy, do not have the same health benefits. For one, many of these contain milk chocolate, which is high in saturated fat, and added sugar. Secondly, manufactures strip all the flanvonoids from the chocolate because they taste bitter. Yes, real cocoa is bitter, and hence better for you! There is a fine line between eating too much chocolate and gaining the health benefits, so this is not a license to eat dark chocolate all day every day. Again, about 1 ounce daily is more than enough to improve your health.