Chocolate Linked to Lower Blood Pressure

Carla K. Johnson
Associated Press
Newsday
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Chicago (US):A study of older men in The Netherlands, known for its luscious chocolate, indicated those who ate the equivalent of one-third of a chocolate bar every day had lower blood pressure and a reduced risk of death.
The researchers say, however, it's too early to conclude it was chocolate that led to better health. The men who ate more cocoa products could have shared other qualities that made them healthier.
Experts also point out that eating too much chocolate can make you fat -- a risk for both heart disease and high blood pressure. "It's way too early to make recommendations about whether people should eat more cocoa or chocolate," said Brian Buijsse, a nutritional epidemiologist at Wageningen University in The Netherlands, who co-authored the study. Still, the Dutch study appears to be the largest so far to document a health effect for cocoa beans.
And it confirms findings of smaller, shorter-term studies that also linked chocolate with lower blood pressure. The findings, published in Monday's Archives of Internal Medicine, are based on data collected for more than a decade on Dutch men who were ages 65 and older in 1985.
feb 27, 2006