Want to Eat Chocolate Every Day For a Year?

Scientists from the University of East Anglia are studying the potential health benefits of dark chocolate, and need 40 female volunteers who would like to eat chocolate every day for a year. The chocolate loving 40 must be post-menopausal and have type 2 diabetes so it can be determined if the flavonoid compounds in chocolate can reduce the risk of heart disease. Dr Peter Curtis, of the UEA's School of Medicine, said, "Our first volunteers are about to return for their final visit to see if the markers of heart health - such as blood pressure and cholesterol levels — have changed. A successful outcome could be the first step in developing new ways to improve the lives of people at increased risk of heart disease."

You jest but...

[Dareth]

It sure as hell made me think of my dear old mother-in-law!

Anonymous Coward

[Anonymous Coward]

Just FYI: Flavonoids are polycyclic aromatic molecules, capable of absorbing free radicals through their conjugated bonds (i.e. moving the unpaired electron around so that a built-up of charge is not created (which drastically lowers its reactivity (and therefore stops a free radical's harmful effects (like the hydroxyl radical, which is used by fungi to invade the cell walls of wood (which is why flavonoids are being explored as wood preservatives, and why the Osage Orange tree is naturally resistant to fungi (since it has a natural abundance of flavonoids)))))). Flavonoids are good at absorbing the harmful affects of free radicals (unpaired electrons) in the body, and this can be a very good thing :)

Re:Chocolate.... type 2 diabetes.....

[ShadowRangerRIT]

Dark chocolate is relatively low in sugars compared to other forms of chocolate. Many Type 2 diabetes patients can handle sugar, without insulin, in limited quantities. If there are health benefits from the dark chocolate, expending some of your limited sugar intake on dark chocolate may be worth it, particularly if one of the benefits is to mitigate other risks related to diabetes.

Re:Chocolate.... type 2 diabetes.....

[clone53421]

Candy is basically sweet by definition. Dark chocolate contains very little sugar (how little depends on how dark the chocolate is). Try some dark chocolate with an 80 or 90% cacao content and then tell me it's candy. Mmmm... if you don't want to finish that, I'll eat it.

Cocoa is not chocolate

[Kainaw]

The study actually uses extremely bitter cocoa powder, not sweet and tasty chocolate. The study is on the antioxidants in the cocoa powder. When sweetened, the antioxidants are destroyed. So, you have to choke down a nasty bitter powder every morning. Not something most people are willing to do.

Re:Cocoa is not chocolate

[evalhalla]

Enough people are willing to eat a block of what is basically the same bitter powder with a bit of cocoa butter to keep it together that they sell it in most supermarkets, at least in Italy and Switzerland. Google for Lindt 99%.