For years, Ive told you and my patients to avoid candy. The sugar not only destroys your teeth, but it also makes you far more susceptible to diabetes, heart disease, and cancer. But what if I told you there is a way to have your chocolate and avoid these serious health conditions? And what if I told you that eating the right candy could, in fact, help you fight these diseases?
Is it really possible? Well, lets just say that I am now a candy lover – actually, I am a chocolate lover. And for more reasons than just the health aspects. You may have already heard that dark chocolate has wonderful nutrients in it that are especially good for you. But you probably have not heard that drinking huge amounts of cocoa can virtually eliminate your risk for stroke, heart failure, cancer, and diabetes.
According to Norman Hollenberg, professor of medicine at Harvard Medical School, that is a real possibility. Hollenberg’s work has focused on the health benefits of drinking cocoa on the Kuna people of Panama. The Kuna drink up to 40 cups of cocoa per week. Hollenberg found that their risk of these diseases was 90% lower than other populations. That is big news! If Hollenberg’s work holds, he says the discovery is as great as that of penicillin. I agree!
There is scientific validation of his work. Recently, a report was published that drinking Mars, Inc. cocoa improves endothelial functioning. Endothelial cells are the important cells that line your arteries. When they are diseased, it begins atherosclerosis. The Mars study looked at a cocoa preparation that was processed to insure preservation of the flavanol-rich part of the cocoa.
Flavanols are among a class of plant chemicals that includes such familiar names as resveratrol, rutin, Seanol, bioflavonoids, and more. In the case of cocoa, its very rich in one of the most powerful of this class – epicatechin. The Mars study found that their flavanol-rich cocoa drink was as effective as statin drugs at lowering cholesterol!
The researchers in this study followed a group of male smokers. They chose smokers because smoking damages endothelial function. They gave the smokers cocoa drinks with varying amounts of flavanol. Their blood flow was measured before the drink and two hours after.
The smokers who drank cocoa with 179 mg of flavanol had a 50% improvement in their endothelial function. That is pretty impressive — especially for smokers. Very few treatments have that kind of result. But that was nothing compared to those smokers who took in 918 mg of flavanol. This dose totally reversed their damaged endothelial function! And it did so in just two hours!
The study also found that lower doses could have the same effect if the participants continued to take it for a longer period of time. For instance, the subjects who consumed at least 306 mg per day of cocoa flavanols for seven days also saw their impaired endothelial function completely reverse. Their cell function became as good as people who have no cardiovascular risk factors.
However, there is a catch. The improvement disappeared within one week after they stopped taking the cocoa.
Interestingly, the study had another surprising finding according to Harold Schmitz, PhD. He is the chief science officer at Mars, Inc. Schmitz said, This study also suggests that the effects of the flavanol-rich cocoa on blood vessels is independent of generalized ‘antioxidant actions often incorrectly reported in the media. The antioxidant activity of the subjects blood did not improve. That means the flavanols worked through other less-understood mechanisms.
Some scientists are of the opinion that with these remarkable properties of reducing death, plant chemicals should be reclassified as essential nutrients (i.e., vitamins). Imagine that, chocolate becoming an essential nutrient.
While I think the health aspects of this story are absolutely fabulous, there is something I like just as much. Without knowing it, a candy company has taken on Big Pharma and one of its greatest scams — statins.
I think dark chocolate can rate as a health food. Its just fantastic that Mars is looking at the God-derived chemicals in their cocoa for health benefits. It might lead to healthier treats, since they can brag about it.
Or can they? Suppose that Mars, Inc. were to advertise that their cocoa does as well as statins, threatening Big Pharma. You can be sure that jack-booted, gun-toting thugs from Big Pharmas enforcer (the FDA) would be busting down the company doors. You see, if Mars told you the truth about the health benefits (reversing vascular disease) of its flavanol-rich cocoa, their product would instantly become a new drug, requiring a billion-dollar investment to get it through the FDA.
Making health claims, even if true, relegates your product, including candy, to that of a drug. Imagine, a candy company with a better (safer, cheaper, more palatable, and as effective) treatment for vascular disease than Big Pharma. And, its handcuffed from telling you about it.
Unfortunately, I cant tell you which dark chocolate brands are processed to insure the greatest protection for the beneficial phytochemicals (flavanols). I do plan to investigate and if the companies are forthcoming, I will let you know. I want to know even for my sake because I enjoy it regularly. However, I eat only organic dark chocolate and suggest that you limit yourself to the same. And make sure the sugar and fat content of any cocoa or chocolate product is very low!
Oh, when the FDA classifies dark chocolate as a drug and forces you to come to me for a prescription, Ill be sure to have plenty of free samples to hand out to you. That will be one drug company representative that Ill welcome into the office.
Ref: Chemistry & Industry, chemind.org, March 2007; Journal of Cardiovascular Pharmacology, 2007;49.