The Guna people, who live on islands off the coast of Panama, do not develop high blood pressure with increasing age, and this is largely attributed to the large amounts of cocoa they consume every day. The main way in which they work involves nitric oxide – a cell signalling molecule – similar to beetroot, l-arginine and sildenafil (Viagra).
These dark chocolate flavanols have beneficial effects on blood vessel linings to reduce arterial stiffness and improve blood vessel dilation. Dark chocolate is so rich in these polyphenols that its antioxidant score is higher than just about any other food at an extraordinary 103,971 ORAC units per 100g. While some flavanols consist of just one unit, and are classed as monomers, the most protective types contain two, three or more units and are known as oligomers. The antioxidant polyphenols in dark chocolate and cocoa are mostly in the form of flavanols (also known as catechins, which are also found in green tea). The reason dark chocolate and cocoa powder get the ‘thumbs-up’ when it comes to blood pressure is because the contain large quantities of antioxidant polyphenols – chemicals that help to neutralise some of the harmful chemical reactions occurring as part of our metabolism, and during exposure to pollutants. Given that hypertension treatment guidelines strongly recommend integrating lifestyle modifications and complementary treatment with the use of blood pressure medication, eating dark chocolate or drinking high flavonol cocoa is definitely allowed. The most recent analysis, a 2017 gold-standard Cochrane Review, looked at 35 different trials and again confirmed that the main benefits of dark chocolate and high flavanol cocoa are seen in people with hypertension, in whom blood pressure was significantly reduced by an average of 4.0/1.98 mmHg.
When they only looked at people with a diagnosis of hypertension or prehypertension, however, the reductions in blood pressure were even greater at 5.0/2.7 mmHg.
The overall results confirmed a significant blood pressure-lowering effect of both drinking cocoa (cacao) and eating dark chocolate which, overall, reduced blood pressure by an average of 3.2/1.3 mmHg compared with controls. Daily flavanol dosages ranged from 30 mg to 1000 mg in the active treatment groups. Nine of these trials compared dark chocolate (50% to 70% cocoa solids) against white chocolate or other cocoa-free controls, while six trials compared high-flavanol cocoa with low-flavanol cocoa over periods of from 2 to 18 weeks. While 100g dark chocolate seems like a high intake, this daily ‘dose’ was estimated to reduce the risk of a heart attack or stroke by 21%.įollowing the publication of trials with conflicting results, researchers assessed the effects of eating dark chocolate on blood pressure in 15 separate studies. The researchers were criticised for including dark chocolate instead of olive oil, but they found clear evidence that eating 100g dark chocolate per day could reduce blood pressure by an average of 5.1/1.8 mmHg. The scientists predicted this could increase average life expectancy by six and a half years for men, and five years for women. Research published in the British Medical Journal back in 2004 suggested that a regular intake of seven foods, which included 100g dark chocolate (along with fish, fruit, vegetables, almonds, garlic and 150ml wine) could cut the risk of cardiovascular disease by as much as 76%. Not only does it taste good, but it contains similar antioxidant flavonoids to those that give green tea its heart-health benefits. Dark chocolate rightly deserves the name of ‘super’ food. Februby Dr Sarah Brewer (updated on August 11, 2018)ĭark chocolate is one of life’s true pleasures, and if you have high blood pressure, you can continue eating it as long as it provides at least 70% cocoa solids.
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