Eating chocolates promotes good health - doctors
( 2001-09-03 17:13 ) (7 )

Good news for chocoholics. The treat favoured by millions not only tastes delicious but is healthy for you, American researchers said on Monday.

Chocolate contains compounds called flavonoids that can help maintain a healthy heart and good circulation and reduce blood clotting -- which can cause heart attacks and stroke.

"More and more, we are finding evidence that consumption of chocolate that is rich in flavonoids can have positive cardiovascular effects," Carl Keen, a nutritionist at the University of California, Davis, told a science conference.

"We not only have observed an increase in antioxidant capacity after chocolate consumption, but also modulation of certain compounds which affect blood vessels."

Antioxidants such as vitamin C reduce the damage of cancer-causing charged particles in the body.

Keen and his colleagues measured the impact of chocolate on platelets in the blood. They presented their findings to the British Association for the Advancement of Science conference in Glasgow. Platelet activation is thought to be an important risk factor in blood clotting.

The researchers collected blood samples from volunteers who ate 25 grams (0.9 ounces) of chocolate with a high flavonoid content and other volunteers who ate bread. They took blood samples from both groups two and six hours after they ate the chocolate and bread to measure their platelet activation.

Volunteers who consumed the chocolate had lower levels of platelet activity, while the scientists found no change in the group that ate the bread.

Keen said the results of the study support earlier research which showed that cocoa acts like low-dose aspirin which helps to reduce blood clotting.

"These results lead us to believe that chocolate may contribute to a healthy, well-balanced diet," Keen added.

Up to 300 scientists are presenting research on subjects ranging from genetics and microbiology to global warming and organic farming during the five-day conference.