Good News For Chocolate Lovers–Cocoa is Good For Diabetes
Chocolate has gotten a great deal of press lately and most of the news has been positive. The latest news is again good and it suggests that drinking hot cocoa is good for you if you have type 2 diabetes. The beneficial effects are caused by an improvement in blood flow following consumption of cocoa beverages.
The well known corporation, Mars Inc., of chocolate bar fame, now has a division involved in scientific research.
Harold Schmitz, chief of the new scientific division at Mars stated that diabetics experienced an average of a 30 percent improvement in blood flow.
The new report, found in the June 3 Journal of the American College of Cardiology, had 41 adults with type 2 diabetes drink cocoa enriched with flavanols, which are the healthful compounds in natural foods including chocolate — dark chocolate is particularly high in flavanols. Flavanols probably increase blood flow by raising the levels of nitric oxide, which makes arteries relax.
Cocoa containing different quantities of flavanols were used in the study. Participants were assigned to consume cocoa with either 321 milligrams or 25 milligrams of flavanols per drink 3 times a day for 30 days. The researchers then tested the patients for blood flow levels.
Before the cocoa was given in the study, the brachial artery in the arms of the patients dilated only 3.3 percent on average. Following 30 days of the high dose flavanol coco consumption, the artery relaxation increased to 5.8 percent. No improvement was observed in the people who drank low-flavanol cocoa.
The study, confirmed previous work that cocoa flavenoid compounds can improve the blood flow in patients said Dr. van Praag, an investigator in the U.S. National Institute on Aging’s Neuroplasticity and Behavior Unit.
It wasn’t a perfect study, she added. “The study would have been better if they had tested the individual flavanols they suggest are responsible for the effect separately,” van Praag said.
Angela Kurtz, a nutritionist at New York University Medical Center, also had some mild criticism of the study, centering on the caloric content of cocoa. “Those 170 extra calories in the cocoa would promote obesity,” she said. “You would have to omit some other calorie sources that match that amount to prevent weight gain.”
Still, Kurtz said, “The bottom line is that diabetics who have a poor vascular system can benefit from something that gives pleasure at the same time it helps health. Cocoa increases the amount of endorphins, the feel-good chemicals.”
Clearly, cocoa which is delicious as well as healthful can provide psychological benefits and now vascular health benefits as anyone who has ever had a cup on a cold snowy day will attest.
Mars has been sponsoring research on the health benefits of chocolate products for years, Schmitz said. “We’ve published a lot of peer-reviewed papers, well over 100,” he said.
Commercial possibilities of the health benefits are likely to be pursued further by the Mars Inc science division.
