Women Have Been Right All Along

[zoobyshoe]

A Dark Chocolate a Day Keeps the Doctor Away
Daily Dark Chocolate Good for the Heart, Loaded With Flavinoids
By*Daniel*DeNoon*
Reviewed By*Brunilda *Nazario,*MD
on Tuesday, June 01, 2004
WebMD Medical News*
Here's news that's hard not to like. Eating a small, 1.6-ounce bar of dark chocolate every day is good for you. Very good for you, find Mary Engler, PhD, RN, of the University of California, San Francisco, and colleagues.
Now here is a medical experiment you would love to volunteer for. Engler's team divided 21 healthy adults into two groups. One group got a Dove Dark Chocolate bar every day for two weeks. Like other dark chocolate bars with high-cocoa content, this one is loaded with something called epicatechin. Epicatechin is a particularly active member of a group of compounds called plant flavonoids. flavonoids keep cholesterol from gathering in blood vessels, reduce the risk of blood clots, and slow down the immune responses that lead to clogged arteries.
The second group that didn't get Dove bars wasn't totally left out. They, too, got dark chocolate bars. But their treats had the flavonoids taken out.
All subjects underwent high-tech evaluation of how well the blood vessels dilate and relax -- an indictor of healthy blood vessel function. Blood vessel stiffness indicates diseased vessels and possible atherosclerosis. Those who got the full-flavonoid chocolate did significantly better. Why? Blood tests showed that high levels of epicatechin were coursing through their arteries.
"This is the longest clinical trial to date to show improvement in blood vessel function from consuming flavonoid-rich dark chocolate daily over an extended period of time," Engler says in a news release. "It is likely that the elevated blood levels of epicatechin triggered the release of active substances that ... increase blood flow in the artery. Better blood flow is good for your heart."
Why Dark Chocolate Is Different

More about this good news:

Address:http://content.health.msn.com/content/article/88/99702?printing=true

[Adam]

Women Have Been Right All Along

So they tell us... :P

[Dooga Blackrazor]

I never developed a taste for Dark Chocolate. Known I know its because I knew deep inside that it was healthy lol. That's good news for Dark Chocolate fans.

[zoobyshoe]

It says that all chocolate has the flavenoids. Dark chocolate just has way more.

[Dooga Blackrazor]

Yeah, but the positive benefits of regular chocolate are shadowed over by the negative. Dark chocolate in small portions is worth the benefit.
~I think I hid the fact that I previously didn't look at the attached link, fairly well. Sssh...

[DarkAnt]

At first when I read the title of this I said hell no, but then I realized it was about chocolate being good for you. So now I agree with them =)
this time...

[Ivan Seeking]

Without changing a thing, my lifelong chocolate and coffee habbits have magically gone from terrible, to bad, to good. :rofl:

[hitssquad]

Like other dark chocolate bars with high-cocoa content, this one is loaded with something called epicatechin. Epicatechin is a particularly active member of a group of compounds called plant flavonoids. More about this good news:

Epicatechin on PubMed. (http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/entrez/query.fcgi?CMD=Search&DB=pubmed&term=epicatechin)

Chocolate on PubMed. (http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/entrez/query.fcgi?CMD=Search&DB=pubmed&term=chocolate)


BTW, chocolate consumption is associated (http://groups.google.com/groups?q=chocolate+parkinson&meta=group%3Dsci.life-extension) with development of Parkinson's disease. Parkinson's is preventable (http://groups.google.com/groups?q=deprenyl+parkinson+group:sci.life-extension&scoring=d) by administration of Deprenyl, however. You can buy Deprenyl here (http://smart-drugs.net/ias-order-Intro.htm).

[zoobyshoe]

BTW, chocolate consumption is associated (http://groups.google.com/groups?q=chocolate+parkinson&meta=group%3Dsci.life-extension) with development of Parkinson's disease.
Not according to this person:
**
"...But that doesn't mean it causes it.
PD [Parkinson's Diease] causes itself. There is no risk of getting it. People don't get PD, they are born with it. Healthy individuals can aquire PD-like symptoms and neuronal damage by exposure to certain toxic substances (some heavy metals, drugs, chemicals etc.). But even if they try hard, they won't get it just from eating candy bars. The only RISK for them is that they have yet undiagnosed PD (which is the case for about 99.99% PD-patients before they develop parkinsonian symptoms - and that occures at a very late stage of the disease)."

Google Search: chocolate parkinson group:sci.life-extension
Address:http://groups.google.com/groups?q=chocolate+parkinson+group:sci.life-extension&hl=en&lr=&ie=UTF-8&group=sci.life-extension&selm=ae05bd%24866%241%40news.tpi.pl&rnum=1

[jimmy p]

Of course, I have never doubted that women have been right all the long... I know what is good for me!! :wink:

[olde drunk]

Without changing a thing, my lifelong chocolate and coffee habbits have magically gone from terrible, to bad, to good. :rofl:
just think what our other vices are doing for us!!

time to light up!


love&peace,
olde drunk

[Monique]

Eating a small, 1.6-ounce bar of dark chocolate every day is good for you. Very good for you, find Mary Engler, PhD, RN, of the University of California, San Francisco, and colleagues.
They have found a good effect of chocolate, but does that negate the bad effects?

A bar of chocolate a day might improve blood vessel function, but it will also give you palpitations and a bar of chocolate is worth 515 kcal, which is a lot of energy! (daily need for an adult is 2000 kcal for females, 2500 kcal for males) If it wasn't for the palpitations I'd be eating chocolate from morning 'till evening though :rolleyes: :biggrin:

[Ivan Seeking]

So the moral of the story is to run while you eat your chocolate?

I find that some good strong Dutch coffee helps to calm those palpitations. :biggrin:

[Monique]

I find that some good strong Dutch coffee helps to calm those palpitations. :biggrin:
:biggrin: yeah, desensitizing those cafeïne receptors should do the job

[Thallium]

Finally my suspicions were confirmed. This is good news! I'll start eating dark chocolate each day from now on!!!

[Tom McCurdy]

Hmm Choclate is good, Bread is bad

I'm scared to see what is next

[Adam]

Ignore all those things, eat whatever you like in moderation, but stay away from haggis.

[zoobyshoe]

A bar of chocolate a day might improve blood vessel function, but it will also give you palpitations...
What is it in the chocolate that causes palpitations?

[Monique]

Not sure, there are a range of stimulants in chocolate.. I think cafeïne has been blamed for precipitating palpitations from chocolate, but I don't think cafeïne levels are that high.. about as much as in a cup of tea? It must be something else.

[hitssquad]

They have found a good effect of chocolate, but does that negate the bad effects?

A bar of chocolate a day might improve blood vessel function, but it will also give you palpitations and a bar of chocolate is worth 515 kcalThere are only three sources of calories for humans: protein, fat, and carbohydrates. If a given person's overall calories are unacceptably high, one or more of the three sources can be reduced to compensate. The flavonoids in chocolate have no human-nutritional calories (though unsweetened chocolate powder itself does have some fat and minimal amounts of proteins and carbohydrates). Chocolate can be obtained, without the added fat and sugar of a chocolate bar, in powder form in the bulk section of your local natural foods store.

[hitssquad]

Not sure, there are a range of stimulants in chocolate.. I think cafeïne has been blamed for precipitating palpitations from chocolate, but I don't think cafeïne levels are that high.. about as much as in a cup of tea? It must be something else.Theobromine is the relative of caffeine found in chocolate. Chocolate also has the notorious stimulant Phenylethylamine (http://www.chocolate.org/).


Main Entry: phenylethylamine
Pronunciation: ** * *
Function: noun
Etymology: phenyl + ethylamine

: a neurotransmitter C8H11N that is an amine resembling amphetamine in structure and pharmacological properties ; also : any of various derivatives of phenylethylamine

[Chrono]

Women have been right about many, many more things than this.

Jon

[Thallium]

Bread may cause cancer. Chocolate may cause cancer. Living may cause cancer.