COLOGNE, Germany, April 11 -- Chocolate, the ultimate comfort food, has won another health vote of confidence. Tea -- black or green -- did not.Rationally applied, daily chocolate may contribute to normal blood pressure on a par with beta-blocker or ACE inhibitor monotherapy, according to a meta-analysis by Dirk Taubert, M.D., Ph.D., of University Hospital here, and colleagues.
Daily intake of chocolate improved systolic blood pressure 4.7 mm Hg and diastolic 2.8 mm Hg compared with controls, they reported in the April 9 issue of the Archives of Internal Medicine.
However, the meta-analysis of 10 short-term randomized trials looking at two antioxidant polyphenol flavonoid-rich foods-tea and cocoa products-revealed no significant blood pressure benefit from black or green tea, they reported in the April 9 issue of the Archives of Internal Medicine. All but one of the cocoa studies involved dark chocolate and one included milk chocolate.
Dark chocolate has been shown in previous studies to improve vascular function among hypertensive patients and many other populations.
At the population level, the improvements seen with chocolate "would be expected to substantially reduce the risk of stroke (by about 20%), coronary heart disease (by 10%), and all-cause mortality (by 8%)," Dr. Taubert and colleagues wrote.
http://www.medpagetoday.com/PrimaryCare/DietNutrition/tb1/5416
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