Trial to Confirm Chocolate’s Heart Benefits

Researchers at the University of East Anglia are about to embark on a study to investigate if chocolate really does help the heart, especially those of postmenopausal women with diabetes. For this the researchers plan on recruiting 150 women under the age of 70 for their study.

Cocoa has long been believed to be good for the heart due to compounds called flavonoids that are found in abundance in these seeds. Cocoa finds maximum use in chocolate as also in cocoa powder which is used in the form of hot drinking chocolate. Several studies have been conducted on the heart healthy benefits of chocolate with mixed results.

The research team led by Professor Aedin Cassidy hopes to test the hypothesis that increasing flavonoids in regular diet can add to the heart protection provided by prescription treatments. For this, they will feed the volunteer women, all of them having type-2 diabetes, a bar of chocolate every day for one year. All women who have volunteered have not had a period for at least one year and have been on statin drugs for lowering cholesterol levels for a similar period.

The chocolate the women will be eating is a specially formulated one and contains more flavonoids than the usual one. The researchers have created this chocolate to compensate for the flavonoids that get destroyed when cocoa is turned into chocolate. Additional flavonoids have been added in the form of soy, which is another good source of flavonoids.

Women are at increased risk of heart disease after menopause, and if they have type 2 diabetes, their risk of succumbing to the disease increases three-and-a-half times. If the researchers make positive findings, it could provide an additional ray of hope for women at risk of heart disease.

Professor Cassidy said, “Despite postmenopausal women being at a similar risk to men for developing cardiovascular disease, to date they are under-represented in clinical trials. We hope to show that adding flavonoids to their diets will provide additional protection from heart disease and give women the opportunity to take more control over reducing their risk of heart disease in the future.”

Dr Iain Frame, Director of Research at the charity Diabetes UK said, “We certainly don’t advise people to start eating a lot of chocolate as it is very high in sugar and fat. We would always recommend that people with diabetes eat a diet low in fat, salt and sugar with plenty of fruit and vegetables.”

“However, there are compounds found in chocolate, called flavonoids that are thought to provide some protection from heart disease. A successful outcome of this research would hopefully mean being able to offer people at high risk better protection over and above that provided by conventional drugs,” he added.

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