Eat a chocolate bar

Meta-analysis confirmed the benefits of chocolate for the heart and blood vessels

Oleg Lischuk, N+1

American scientists have concluded that the flavonoids contained in cocoa improve the biochemical parameters of metabolism and the risk of cardiovascular diseases. The results are published in The Journal of Nutrition (Won et al., Cocoa Flavanol Intake and Biomarkers for Cardiometabolic Health: A Systematic Review and Meta-Analysis of Randomized Controlled Trials).

Flavonoids are natural compounds produced by many plants and included in some foods. In the human body, they produce an antioxidant effect – they neutralize reactive oxygen species that damage biological macromolecules, such as DNA and proteins. Cocoa and its products (primarily dark chocolate) contain a significant amount of one of the varieties of flavonoids – flavanols. Several small and short-term studies have shown that regular intake of these substances can reduce the risk of cardiovascular diseases and slow down age-related memory deterioration, but the results of such studies have low reliability.

Brown University researchers and colleagues from other research centers conducted a meta-analysis of 19 randomized clinical trials of cocoa flavanols with a total participation of 1,131 people. The amount of flavanols taken ranged from 166 to 2110 milligrams per day, the duration of intake ranged from two weeks to a year. During the tests, the dynamics of biochemical blood parameters related to the risk of cardiovascular diseases were recorded in all volunteers. These data were used to construct models with random effects and calculate weighted differences of average values with their help (WMD, an indicator that allows estimating the magnitude of the therapeutic effect taking into account the characteristics of individual studies in meta-analysis).

It turned out that cocoa flavanols favorably affect the sensitivity of tissues to insulin and lipid profile. In particular, they reduced triglyceride levels (WMD -0.1 millimoles per liter) and increased the level of high-density lipoprotein cholesterol, known as "good" cholesterol (WMD 0.06 millimoles per liter). Also, taking flavanols reduced the fasting insulin level (WMD -2.33 micro-international units per milliliter) and increased the sensitivity index to it (WMD 2.54). In addition, the active ingredients of cocoa reduced the level of C-reactive protein, which serves as an indicator of inflammation (WMD -0.83 milligrams per deciliter), and increased the level of vascular cell adhesion molecule type 1 VCAM-1, which plays an important role in immune reactions and, presumably, in the development of atherosclerosis (WMD 85.6 nanograms per milliliter). These effects of cocoa were not affected by the design of individual studies, the form of flavanols taken, gender, age and concomitant diseases of the participants.

"Our work shows that the intake of cocoa flavanols has a positive effect on individual cardiometabolic indicators in adults. The results indicate the need for long-term randomized clinical trials to find out whether these substances reduce the risk of diabetes and cardiovascular diseases," the researchers concluded.

It should be noted that the changes in indicators registered by scientists are small. It is possible that with prolonged intake, products from kakayu really reduce the risk of developing cardiovascular diseases, but whether this is true, and if so, how significant the degree of risk reduction is, according to the results of the current meta-analysis, it is impossible to say. As the authors of the work rightly noted, the results obtained only indicate the need for further, more extensive research. Possible side effects should also be recorded in them. The attitude to the once super–popular antioxidants in the medical environment is not so unambiguous now - the benefits of taking them turned out to be quite modest, but their ability to disrupt the immune system and in some cases increase the risk of cancer and overall mortality has been shown. You can read how evidence-based medicine debunked popular views about the benefits of various "superfoods" in our material.

Portal "Eternal youth" http://vechnayamolodost.ru  24.10.2016