Cocoa products may benefit cardio vascular health, says study
Posted on: 18/Oct/2016 9:44:11 AM
A new study published in the Journal of Nutrition has said that consuming flavanol-rich cocoa products such as dark chocolates may benefit cardiovascular health. The study was conducted by researchers from the Brown University in the US.
Say the researchers, Our meta-analysis of RCTs, or Randomised Controlled Trials, characterises how cocoa flavanols affect cardiometabolic biomarkers, providing guidance in designing large, definitive prevention trials against diabetes and cardiovascular disease in future work. We found that cocoa flavanol intake may reduce dyslipidemia, or elevated triglycerides, insulin resistance and systemic inflammation, which are all major subclinical risk factors for cardiometabolic diseases.
The greatest effects were seen among trial volunteers who ate between 200 and 600 milligrammes of flavanols a day, based on their cocoa consumption. They saw significant declines in blood glucose and insulin, as well as another indicator of insulin resistance called HOMA-IR. They also saw an increase in HDL, or good, cholesterol.
Speaking about this, the researchers said, The treatment groups of the trials included in our meta-analysis are primarily dark chocolate - a few were using cocoa powder-based beverages. Therefore, the findings from the current study apparently shouldn`t be generalised to different sorts of chocolate candies or white chocolates, of which the content of sugar/food additives could be substantially higher than that of the dark chocolate.
