New Research Indicates Just One Small Square

of Dark Chocolate a Day May Lower Blood Pressure

and Reduce The Risk of Cardiovascular Disease

A new study published on March 30, 2010 in the European Heart Journal found that even one
square of chocolate a day can be beneficial. The research was conducted by Dr. Brian Buijsse and
colleagues at the German Institute of Human Nutrition, Nuthetal, Germany.

Researchers 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 – an average of 1.7 grams a day. The difference between the two groups
amounts to six grams of chocolate: the equivalent of less than one small square of a 100g bar.1
1
http://www.oxfordjournals.org/news/research/2010/03/30/chocolate.html

Chocolate consumption in relation to blood pressure and risk

of cardiovascular disease in German adults. Cacao pods, and the dark
Buijsse B, Weikert C, Drogan D, Bergmann M, Boeing H. chocolate derived from them,
Department of Epidemiology, German Institute of Human Nutrition (DIfE) Potsdam-Rehbrücke, Arthur- contain a higher concentration
Scheunert-Allee 114-116, 14558 Nuthetal, Germany. of antioxidants than either red
wine or green tea.
ABSTRACT: Aims To investigate the association of chocolate consumption with measured blood
pressure and the incidence of cardiovascular disease. Methods and results Dietary intake, including
chocolate, and blood pressure were assessed at baseline (1994-98) in 19 357 participants (aged
35-65 years) free of myocardial infarction and stroke and not using antihypertensive medication
of the Potsdam arm of the European Prospective Investigation into Cancer and Nutrition. Incident
cases of myocardial infarction (n = 166) and stroke (n = 136) were identified after a mean follow-up
of approximately 8 years. Mean systolic blood pressure was 1.0 mmHg [95% confidence interval
(CI) -1.6 to -0.4 mmHg] and mean diastolic blood pressure 0.9 mmHg (95% CI -1.3 to -0.5 mmHg)
lower in the top quartile compared with the bottom quartile of chocolate consumption. The relative
risk of the combined outcome of myocardial infarction and stroke for top vs. bottom quartiles
was 0.61 (95% CI 0.44-0.87; P linear trend = 0.014). Baseline BP explained 12% of this lower risk
(95% CI 3-36%). The inverse association was stronger for stroke than for myocardial infarction.

Conclusion: Chocolate consumption appears to lower cardiovascular disease risk, in part through Cocoa powder is created by
grinding dried, fermented
reducing blood pressure. The inverse association may be stronger for stroke than for myocardial
cacao seeds and removing the
infarction. Further research is needed, in particular randomized trials.
cocoa butter.
PMID: 20354055 [PubMed - as supplied by publisher]
http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/20354055

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