More dark chocolate benefits - higher HDL in diabetics

OK, on the subject of dark chocolate my blog entries are getting to sound like a broken record (anyone out there know what a record is? NOT like breaking the record in the Guiness Book of World....)

So here's another study showing its benefits. Investigators randomized 12 patients with diabetes to eat 45 grams (a total of about an ounce and a half) of very dark chocolate (85% cocoa solids) daily or a similar amount of chocolate without the cocoa solids or polyphenols present. dyed to the same color. Patients who ate the real dark chocolate had better HDL levels and therefore better total/HDL cholesterol ratios.

People in the group that ate real chocolate did not gain weight and did not ingest more calories, because the chocolate generally resulted in their eating less snack food and eating less at the next meal than those who ate the "placebo" chocolate. They also had equivalent blood sugar and glycosylated hemoglobin levels.

This study had a small sample, but if it is repeated and borne out, it should mean that we don't have to advise our diabetic patients to stay away from anything sweet and yummy.

More dark chocolate benefits

It seems like I'm running an ad for dark chocolate, but there just seems to be a lot of good news lately from studies of it. Perhaps there's an evolutionary survival reason why we humans seem to love the stuff..."Flavanol-rich" cocoa products (otherwise known as dark chocolate) may help to reduce blood pressure a little bit in people with high blood pressure, according to the results of a meta-analysis (a study that puts together the results of other studies rather than collecting new date) by a team led by Karin Ried from the University of Adelaide in Australia and reported in the June 28 issue of BMC Medicine.

Interestingly the chocolate did not reduce blood pressure in people with normal blood pressure, only those with high blood pressure.

The size of the effect in people with high blood pressure was about 5 and 3 mmHg (millimeters of mercury) for diastolic and systolic blood pressure respectively. MmHg are the usual units in which blood pressure is measured. Controlling both systolic and diastolic blood pressure is important for prevention of heart disease and stroke. Reducing blood pressure by 5 mm Hg is a clinically important effect which lowers the risk of heart attack and stroke measurably.

Again one must be cautious about these results because if one ingested the chocolate with a lot of extra sugar, such as in a hot chocolate or cocoa drink, its effects might be counteracted by the increased calories.

Also in interviews reported by Medscape, the authors were careful to caution that flavanol-rich chocolate did not significantly reduce mean blood pressure below 140 mmHg systolic or 80 mmHg diastolic.