Gourmet dark chocolate is a cardiovascular powerhouse!
From the ever-informative WebMD comes this great article about the copious benefits that gourmet dark chocolate contains for us! Here's an excerpt that is indeed delicious news:
"...Based on his studies of the island-dwelling Kuna - who drink up to 40 cups per week of flavanol-rich cocoa and have a 10% lower risk of stroke, heart failure, cancer and diabetes than people who live on mainland Panama - Dr. Norman Hollenberg of Harvard Medical School and Brigham and Women's Hospital, believes epicatechin, a flavanol found in cocoa (and tea and wine), is so protective, it should be classified as a vitamin.
Hollenburg's research, published in the March 2007 issue of the International Journal of Medical Sciences, revealed that compared to the cocoa-loving Kuna islanders, among those living on the Panama mainland, relative risk of death from heart disease was 1,280% higher and death from cancer was 630% higher.
The link between cocoa flavanols and cardiovascular health is likely due in part to their improving blood flow by increasing production of nitric oxide, a molecule secreted by the lining of our blood vessels (the endothelium) to signal surrounding muscle to relax.
In research published in the Journal of Cardiovascular Pharmacology, ((Heiss C, Finis D, et al., February 2007), eleven healthy male smokers, with smoking-related losses in endothelial function resulting in impaired blood flow, drank three cups each day of a flavanol-rich cocoa drink (306 mg flavanol/cup). Within two days, the men showed measurable improvement in blood vessel function. After seven days, impairment of blood flow in these smokers was almost reversed. However, the improvement disappeared within one week of discontinuing the cocoa treatment, prompting researchers to recommend daily consumption of flavanol-rich cocoa."
Read the rest of this article here - and don't forget to have a bite of organic, dark chocolate today! Your heart will love the benefits.
talk about issues of the heart is very extensive, however I think it is good that we have some basic care on this issue we can save your life someday
ReplyDeleteand not only have this effect, my doctor said me in occassion, you want to get a extra fuel in the bed? well eat chocolate, the first time I don't believe this, but one day I put into a test this, well in few words, AWESOME!!!.
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