Chocolate - Friend or Foe?

Well here is something different from Fitness by Phone!

Like most of you I love chocolate, but did you know good chocolate is heart healthy plus has a host of other benefits? It was noticed in the 1600's that it reduced angina and heart pain...

I am not talking about the run of the mill chocolate from Coles or Woolies here.

Milk chocolate particularly is full of sugar, and often that is high fructose corn syrup, a known cause of health problems. And often too it is "Dutch' processed. To make the chocolate dark and get rid of the acid/bitter taste an alakali is added.

In fact lots of "dark" choclates are just dutched and have added sugar to boot...

Result? A sticky mess that clogs your arteries because it is so high in fat and sugar!!! However, there is "real" chocolate available that can deliver real health benefits...

In fact, the list of our cocoa beans health lifting powers just keeps growing. Research indicates that its active ingredients can help the following conditions '

- High blood pressure - Stroke - Clogged arteries - Heart disease - Infectious diseses - Dementia - Prostate and lung cancer - Blood clots - Liver problems - Inflammation - Allergies - Asthma

There is another benefit researchers have discovered.

As you may know one of the big problems with type II diabetes is the way it cuts down blood circulation to extremities.

When I was in the heart ward of the Gold Coast Hospital for nine days back in early 2006, I was amazed at how bad the legs and feet of some of those blokes were. (Most were diabetes sufferers and they were in there with heart problems as a result). A couple of them were looking at amputations according to the doctors, on top of all their other problems. Yuk.

My ears pricked up when I heard of a new study published in the Journal of the American College of Cardiology discovered that cocoa significantly enhances blood flow in folks with type II diabetes (Balzer et al. "Sustained Benefits in Vascular Function Through Flavanol-Containing Cocoa in Medicated Diabetic Patients: A Double-Masked, Randomized, Controlled Trial." Journal of the American College of Cardiology. 2008. 51:2141-2149)

In that study, researchers divided diabetes sufferers into 2 groups - one group had 1000 mg of cocoa a day (in three doses a day) and the other 25 mg.

At the end of one month, the higher cocoa groups circulation had normalised (from "severly impaired") while the low cocoa group had no changes.

I discovered the way it works is this - the cocoa improves the nitric oxide output. The effect is to cause blood vessels to relax and open up to improve circulation. This effectively drops blood pressure and helps deliver oxygen and nutrients more afficiently...

Pure chocolate delivers these benefits. When I say pure I mean cacao bean only - no fluff or fillers like added sugar or fat...

If you can get it, the pure bean is best. The way it is usually supplied is as "nibs". What's a nib? If you open a cacao pod, you find a sort of bean or "nib". If you want to use chocolate as a health supplement (and who wouldn't?) then you have to eat the beans only.

To my knowledge there is only one way to get pure organic cacao bean "nibs".

Dagoba Chocolate nibs (which can be obtained cheaply in Austrlaia here) are just lightly roasted organic cacao beans and coarsely ground. You sprinkle them onto cereals etc, on salads (you've had pine nuts on salad right?) or snack on from the pack. They are a little bitter, but still nice enough for my taste.

It isn't hard to eat a gram a day, which is all you need to get the benefits...

Speaking of which, here are some other reasons to eat cacao bean nibs.

There is a class of chemicals called "flavonoids". They are actually a poisonous anti-microbial substance, used by the producing plant to fight disease in itself. They are not an antioxidant as first thought. Latest research indicates they are recognised by your body as a toxin, and it tries to eliminate them. (Lotito SB, Frei B. "Consumption of flavonoid-rich foods and increased plasma antioxidant capacity in humans: cause, consequence, or epiphenomenon?" 2006. Free Radical Biology and Medicine. 41(12):1727'46.)

Flavonoids are found in fruits and vegetables, coffee, tea, beer and red wine. But cacao has them in the highest concentrations. (Lee et al. "Cocoa Has More Phenolic Phytochemicals and a Higher Antioxidant Capacity than Teas and Red Wine." Journal of Agricultural and Food Chemistry. 2003. 51:7292-7295.)

How does a poison help you stay well then? Flavonoids activate special enzymes and uric acid production. Together these compounds change your body's response to allergens, tends to disable some cancer cells and cancer causing agents, and flush other dangerous substances out of your system (at the same time it is trying to get rid of the flavonoids). Mind you, if your liver is over stressed (being the main way your body gets rid of toxins) then the benefits will not be as pronounced. I have other articles which cover this problem.

So there you have it... another heart healthy treat from nature that reverses or prevents a number of life threatening conditions.