Dark Chocolate

Is it the dark in dark chocolate?

When we first entered this scientific area about 10 years ago, we did not fully appreciate the emotional content of discussions involving chocolate. Contacts between medical scientists and the lay press tend to be sporadic. When chocolate is the issue, however, the lay press interest becomes intense and widespread. We have participated in many dozens, probably hundreds, of interviews about our ...

Dark Chocolate and Metabolic Syndrome; Do Polyphenols All that Matter?

The mysterious light of dark chocolate.

A healthy diet plays a key role in the prevention and management of cardiovascular diseases. Dark chocolate in particular has been shown to improve endothelial functions and lipid profile and to have cardiovascular protective effects via an inhibitory action on platelet functions. Recently, several studies have demonstrated the beneficial effects of chocolate, primarily on hypertension and othe...

The cardiovascular benefits of dark chocolate.

Dark chocolate contains many biologically active components, such as catechins, procyanidins and theobromine from cocoa, together with added sucrose and lipids. All of these can directly or indirectly affect the cardiovascular system by multiple mechanisms. Intervention studies on healthy and metabolically-dysfunctional volunteers have suggested that cocoa improves blood pressure, platelet aggr...

Dark chocolate improves endothelial and platelet function.