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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