Just what the doctor ordered – dark chocolates to beat heart disease

IT IS a doctor’s prescription to tickle the tastebuds and, according to scientists, it could help save lives. Eating dark chocolate every day could prevent heart attacks among those people considered at high risk of suffering from cardiovascular disease, a study published today claims.

IT IS a doctor’s prescription to tickle the tastebuds and, according to scientists, it could help save lives.

Eating dark chocolate every day could prevent heart attacks among those people considered at high risk of suffering from cardiovascular disease, a study published today claims.

Researchers found that chocolate rich in cocoa helps to lower the chance of individuals with metabolic syndrome – a cluster of factors that leaves them more prone to heart disease – from suffering strokes and heart attacks.

The Australian scientists said the “pleasant and cost-effective” treatment could become a “preventative strategy,” with subsidised chocolate offered to those patients affected.

However, they warn that only the dark variety will bring about life-enhancing benefits, pointing out that milk and white chocolate will not have the same impact.

The British Medical Association in Scotland agreed that patients at risk of developing heart disease should include a few squares of the sweet treat as part of a balanced diet, but warned them against “overindulging” in plain chocolate.

The researchers, from the department of epidemiology and preventive medicine at Monash University in Melbourne, found that the daily consumption of dark chocolate should last for ten years in order for it to have the maximum effect.

Over the decade long period, they predict that daily intake of chocolate containing at least 60 per cent cocoa solids would prevent 85 heart attacks per 10,000 people.

The chocolate, they point out in the latest edition of the British Medical Journal is rich in flavonoids which have anti-hypertensive, anti-inflammatory, and anthi-thrombotic effects, and helps to lower blood pressure.

Until now, studies in the field have focused only on the short-term healthy benefits of the chocolate. However researchers now say that daily dark chocolate could avert 15 fatal heart attacks and 70 non-fatal heart attacks per 10,000 people over a ten year period. Even at 80 per cent compliance it was effective, they added.

They found that spending £25 per high risk individual per year on dark chocolate – either subsidising the cost or promoting the benefits in health campaigns – would yield benefits.

Danny Liew, an associate professor in medicine and a consultant physician, said: “The findings of this study suggest that the blood pressure lowering and lipid effects of plain dark chocolate could represent an effective and cost effective strategy for the prevention of cardiovascular disease in people with metabolic syndrome and no diabetes.

“Chocolate benefits from being by and large a pleasant and hence sustainable treatment option. Evidence to date suggests that the chocolate would need to be dark and at least 60 to 70 per cent cocoa, or formulated or enriched with polyphenols.”

A spokeswoman for BMA Scotland said: “It is important that people at risk of developing heart disease or diabetes are encouraged to eat a healthier diet.

“Research has suggested that eating a small amount of dark chocolate every day could reduce the risk of stroke or heart disease. However, it is important to remember not to overindulge.”