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Eating a few squares of dark chocolate each day "improves your blood pressure in just one month"
- Chocolate with 90% cocoa has more spectacular benefits than 50% milk varieties
- The sweet black treat also improves our pulse and the flexibility of our arteries
- Dark chocolate is richer in powerful antioxidant flavanols
Chocolate lovers have a new reason to rejoice as scientists have discovered that this indulgent treat is good for us.
One study suggests that eating only a few squares of dark chocolate each day lowers blood pressure in just one month.
Although milk chocolate has its advantages, it has been shown that 90% of cocoa has the strongest effect.
Researchers in Portugal think this is because dark chocolate is richer in powerful antioxidant flavanols.
Eat dark chocolate every day improves your blood pressure (stock)
The research was carried out by the Polytechnic Institute of Coimbra and directed by Dr. Telmo Pereira.
The benefits of chocolate have been the subject of many studies, especially regarding the health of our heart.
Flavanols have been associated with everything from reduced resistance to insulin to weight regulation and even faster wound healing.
There is therefore considerable scientific interest in how the consumption of foods rich in flavanols often influences our well-being.
The researchers asked 30 healthy adults, aged 18 to 27, to consume 20 g of the treat each day for 30 days.
Half of the participants had 55% cocoa chocolate, the remaining 90%.
The heart rate, stiffness of the arteries and the pulsations of the participants were measured 30 days before the experiment and two days after the end of the experiment.
They were told not to eat other foods rich in flavanols, such as berries, tea and wine, so as not to darken the results.
The results – published in the journal Nutrition – revealed that all participants had seen a significant improvement in their blood pressure, but that the effects were more dramatic in the high cocoa group.
Blood pressure is measured in millimeters of mercury (mmHg) and is given in two digits.
The systolic pressure measures the force when the heart pushes the blood, while the diastolic examines the pressure when the heart rests between the beats.
A normal systolic reading is between 90 and 120 mmHg and diastolic between 60 and 80 mmHg, according to the NHS.
Those who consume chocolate with high cocoa content saw their systolic blood pressure drop by 3.5 mmHg compared to 2.4 mmHg in the lower cocoa group.
And the diastolic blood pressure was reduced by 2.3 mmHg and 1.7 mmHg, respectively.
The higher cocoa group also had healthier heartbeats and ventricular-arterial coupling.
Ventricular-arterial coupling describes the interaction between the left ventricle and the arteries, which together pump blood into the body.
This enhanced interaction is thought to be due to the reduction of arterial pressure as well as "vascular relaxation".
The researchers noted, however, that the heart structure of the participants had not changed. This may be due to the fact that the study lasts only 30 days.
The inclusion of only healthy young people also meant that "improvement with the ingestion of cocoa was necessarily limited".
The researchers add that one of the strengths of the study is that it is one of the first to be conducted among young people.
Similar research has generally focused on middle-aged adults with a disease.
Scientists hope that their discoveries will support the consumption of chocolate as a preventive measure for heart health.
Future studies should examine how chocolate interacts with the rest of our diet to influence our well-being, they say.
They should also discover exactly how cocoa is beneficial to our heart and the optimal amount to eat.
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