In The News This Week … Mar. 20–26, 2005: Chocolate Easter Bunnies

Some advice from the March 2005 issue of the American Journal of Clinical Nutrition this week as you finish your shopping for Easter treats for the kids: Buy them dark chocolate bunnies.

Flavonols, which are found in numerous plants, including cacao (from which cocoa and chocolate are made), grapes, tea, and grapefruit, have been found to have cardiovascular benefits. So researchers fed 15 healthy test subjects dark chocolate (which is made from cocoa) and white chocolate (which lacks cocoa, and thus presumably lacks flavonols) to study blood pressure, glucose, and insulin responses.

The results showed that subjects ingesting 100g (3.5oz) of dark chocolate daily for 15 days lowered their blood pressure and improved their ability to metabolize sugar – the white chocolate did not have a similar effect. (As an aside, I don't think that the researchers had too much difficulty finding subjects to sacrifice themselves on the altar of medical research in this case!)

Of course, this all doesn't mean that we should run out and inhale vast quantities of chocolate. Easter bunnies come once a year – and the title of the article does begin with the words "Short-term administration of dark chocolate."

(For more on the good side of chocolate, see our news item from November 27, 2004.)

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