Connecting Singles^® Forums100% Free Online Dating

Chocolate 'may cut diabetes risk'

The key ingredient is flavonoids

Scientists are to investigate whether eating chocolate can reduce the risk of heart disease in women with diabetes.

Volunteers - postmenopausal women with type 2 diabetes - will be asked to eat a bar of chocolate a day for a year.

Cocoa is rich in compounds called flavonoids, which are thought to benefit the heart.

The University of East Anglia is using a specially formulated form of chocolate which contains more flavonoids than usual.

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

Dr Iain Frame
Diabetes UK


This compensates for the fact that many flavonoids are destroyed in the process of turning cocoa into chocolate.

Soy - another source of flavonoids - has also been added to the special bars.

The scientists are testing the theory that adding flavonoids to the diet may give added protection against heart disease on top of that provided by prescription drugs.

Deaths due to heart disease among women increase rapidly after the menopause and having type 2 diabetes increases this risk by a further three-and-a-half times.

If the trial confirms the hypothesis then it could have a far-reaching impact on the advice given to at-risk women.

Additional protection

Lead researcher Professor Aedin 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."

The researchers aim to recruit 150 women under the age of 70 with type 2 diabetes who have not had a period for at least a year, and who have been taking cholesterol-lowering statin drugs for at least 12 months.

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."

How come chocolate goes up 10 cents a gallon and no one gripes!



Oh! and add up a pound of SLIM JIMS, then gripe about the price of hamburger.

chocolate is great!

Chocolate has always been good for me. It makes me feel better and I need the extra weight.

I love chocolate

More bSmall amounts of dark chocolate "efficiently reduced blood pressure," report the researchers, who included Dirk Taubert, MD, PhD, of Germany's University Hospital of Cologne.

How small is a small amount of dark chocolate? Participants in Taubert's study were limited to 30 calories per day of dark chocolate. That's roughly the number of calories in a Hershey's Kiss.

Dark Chocolate Benefit?
Taubert's study included 44 adults aged 56-73 in Duisburg, Germany.

The 24 women and 20 men had mild high blood pressure (hypertension) or borderline blood pressure that fell just short of hypertension. They were otherwise healthy and weren't taking blood pressure drugs or nutritional supplements.

Taubert's team split participants into two similar groups.

One group got 30-calorie daily doses of dark chocolate for 18 weeks. The researchers checked the amount of cocoa in the German chocolate bars.

For comparison, the other group got a similar daily dose of "white chocolate," which doesn't contain chocolate liquor or cocoa.

Both groups got the same instructions: Take your chocolate dose two hours after dinner, don't change your normal diet and fitness habits, and keep a diet and exercise diary.

Dark Chocolate and High Blood Pressure
Participants in the dark chocolate study got blood pressure tests and checkups at the study's start, midpoint, and end.

By the end of the study, those eating dark chocolate lowered their systolic blood pressure by nearly three points and their diastolic blood pressure by almost two points, on average.

Systolic blood pressure is the first, or top, number in a blood pressure reading. Diastolic blood pressure is the second, or bottom, number in a blood pressure reading.

Blood pressure didn't budge for better or worse in the white chocolate group
onuses.........

Studies done on chronic fatigue syndrome and ME have had good results too........

"Dark chocolate is high in polyphenols, which have been associated with health benefits such as a reduction in blood pressure.

"Also high polyphenols appear to improve levels of serotonin in the brain, which has been linked with chronic fatigue syndrome and that may be a mechanism."

He added that although more research was needed to confirm the findings, patients would not do themselves any harm by eating small amounts of dark chocolate and no-one in the study put on any weight.

"If you derive benefit, then it's a no-harm, no-risk situation."

Heart benefits........

Studies showed that flavonoids found in dark chocolate or cocoa have two positive effects on the heart. The antioxidants block arterial damage that is caused by free radicals and it inhibits platelet aggregation which causes heart attack and stroke. Other studies are showing that the flavonoids also inhibit the enzyme that causes inflammation.

The antioxidants in dark chocolate are four times the amount found in green tea, and we all know how good green tea is for us. Antioxidants remove free radicals from the body which damage cells and cause diseases such as cancer.

Actually chocolate is quite a healthy snack. It contains phosphate and minerals, potassium, magnesium, Vitamins B1, B2, E, and D and an average size chocolate bar contains about 200 calories.

WOW.. I won't feel so guilty next time I have a chocolate bar. Ooops just remembered I had a mini kitkat a few minutes ago..

<~~~~~~Chocolate addict

I chocolate...







Mmmm...