Giving you all the more reasons to hog on the ever-so indulgent dark chocolate, a study reveals that several compounds found in Cocoa may be good for your heart. Findings reveal that the consumption of flavanol-rich cocoa products was associated with improvements in specific circulation biomarkers of cardiometabolic health.
Simin Liu, Professor at Brown University in Rhode Islands, said, "We found that cocoa flavanol intake may reduce dyslipidemia (elevated triglycerides), insulin resistance and systemic inflammation, which are all major subclinical risk factors for cardiometabolic diseases." The most obvious effects were seen among trial volunteers who consumed somewhere between 200 and 600 mg of flavanols a day. They had significant declines in blood glucose and insulin resistance called HOMA-IR. Also seen was an increase in HDL, or what is called "good" cholesterol.
Other participants who consumed higher doses saw some of the insulin resistance benefits and a drop in triglycerides, but not a significant increase in HDL. The team conducted a systematic review and meta-analysis of 19 randomised controlled trials of cocoa consumption and included 1139 volunteers in these trials. However small to modest, the results show statistically significant improvements among those who ate flavanol-rich cocoa product versus those who did not.
