Can a Chocolate Pill Help Prevent Heart Attacks?

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Chocolate is one of the most loved foods, and people are always trying to find reasons to justify that it is good for you. I came across an interesting long-term study that will be taking place soon. The researches will be looking at whether certain ingredients in dark chocolate can prevent heart attacks and strokes. It’s obvious that the sugar and high fat content in chocolate isn’t healthy. However, past studies have shown that cocoa flavanols have been shown to reduce blood pressure and improve cholesterol levels. The researchers will not be giving out chocolate candy bars to their 18,000 participants. Instead, they will be giving participants dark chocolate pills that contain 750 milligrams of cocoa flavanols, which are naturally present in chocolate. These pills will only contain this bio-active ingredient that’s found in the cocoa bean and will not contain any sugar or fat. The participants will be given two capsules a day of the cocoa flavanols or a placebo for four years. This study will be conducted at the Brigham and Women's Hospital in Boston and the Fred Hutchinson Cancer Research in Seattle. The research is sponsored by Mars Inc., who has been researching cocoa flavanols for the past 20 years. It would be great if this study shows that these cocoa flavanol capsules are beneficial, because in order to consume a high amount of cocoa flavanols from chocolate bars, you would be consuming high calories, fat, and sugar along with it. We will have to keep an eye out for the results of this interesting study!


Link to article:

http://www.chicagotribune.com/health/la-dd-chocolate-pill-cocoa-flavanols-20140317,0,4579579.story

-AW

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