Chocolate Good for You?
Cited: Associated Press
Did the Easter Bunny lower your chances of having a heart problem? It appears in small doses of chocolate, preferably dark chocolate, each day just might decrease your risk of having a heart attack or stroke by almost 40% according to a new study anyway.
Researchers in Germany followed 19,357 people, aged between 35 and 65, for at least ten years and found that those who ate the most amount of chocolate – an average of 7.5 grams a day – had lower blood pressure and a 39% lower risk of having a heart attack or stroke compared to those who ate the least amount of chocolate. That is an average of 1.7 grams a day. The difference between the two groups amounts to six grams of chocolate, which is the equivalent of less than one small square of a 100g bar. German researchers sent them several questionnaires about their diet and exercise habits.
They found people who had an average of six grams of chocolate per day — or about one square of a chocolate bar — had a 39% lower risk of either a heart attack or stroke. The study was published March 30 in the European Heart Journal.
Previous studies have suggested dark chocolate in small amounts could be good for you, but this is the first study to track its effects over such a long period of time. Experts think the flavonols contained in chocolate are responsible. Flavonols, also found in vegetables and red wine, help the muscles in blood vessels widen, which leads to a drop in blood pressure.
“It’s a bit too early to come up with recommendations that people should eat more chocolate, but if people replace sugar or high-fat snacks with a little piece of dark chocolate, that might help,” said Brian Buijsse, a nutritional epidemiologist at the German Institute of Human Nutrition in Nuthetal, Germany, the study’s lead author.
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The people tracked by Buijsse and colleagues had no history of heart problems, had similar habits for risk factors like smoking and exercise, and did not vary widely in their Body Mass Index.
Since the study only observed people and did not give them chocolate directly to test what its effects were, experts said more research was needed to determine the candy’s exact impact on the body. The study was paid for by the German government and the European Union.
Doctors also warned that eating large amounts of chocolate could lead to weight gain, a major risk factor for heart problems and strokes.
“The biggest problem with this is not to gain weight,” Buijsse said. “Eating too much chocolate will have negative effects that far outweigh the positive effects of cocoa.” People hoping to benefit from chocolate’s heart healthy effects should cut out other snacks and sweets if they wanted to eat chocolate.
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My Take: Maybe that is why it I have a regular blood pressure while being overweight. I do not eat much candy, but I do get at least a small piece of chocolate every day to curb my sweet tooth. I have been having most of my life and now I’m unable to exercise due to disability. Yes, when I was a child I had a very, very large sweet tooth. Not anymore!
I wish I could utilize Pilates exercise to lose weight, but I have myasthenia gravis. In simplest terms, it is like having muscle fatigue 24/7. If I could afford a personal trainer to give me Pilates instruction, I would. Unfortunately, SSA does not pay enough. I have even considered Alexander Technique because it is not really an exercise so much as learning to control your body. If you would like to find out what is the Alexander technique, you can easily do a search on the Internet or click this link.
Now, most exercise I get is cleaning house. Maryland House cleaning is not easy when you’re disabled. Maybe I should look into Maryland maid services! I probably couldn’t afford that either. Then again, I look at it positively, I am getting some exercise!
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