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Sweet tooth, sweet health
( 2003-11-28 09:09) (Shanghai Star)

The beneficial use of cocoa has a long history in traditional folk medicine as practised by different peoples of Central America, including Aztecs and Mayans. Today, research into the biological effects of cocoa, or chocolate, is carried out worldwide especially in relation to various degenerative diseases.

Chocolate contains a variety of polyphenolic compounds, especially flavanols - like epicatechin. These compounds have been shown previously to exert strong antioxidant properties in vitro.

The latest medical research, especially in the field of cardiovascular disease, clearly indicated that cocoa products have beneficial effects on cardiovascular health.

It could be shown that the consumption of chocolate was able to lower the blood pressure in people with moderate hypertension, decrease the tendency of the blood to clot and positively influence relief from constriction in blood vessels.

Whether or not these effects of chocolate are solely based on antioxidant properties is still being investigated but the data shows that the polyphenols found in chocolate may have additional biological functions.

Research today into the potential health benefits of chocolate is focused on the presence of flavanols.

The concentration of flavanols in chocolate is greatly influenced by the processing methods used during the production of chocolate products. Thus, quality chocolate with high flavanol content would be expected to have greater beneficial health effects as compared to low flavanol chocolate.

 
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