Daily Consumption of a Dark Chocolate Containing Flavanols and Added Sterol Esters Affects Cardiovascular Risk Factors in a Normotensive Population with Elevated Cholesterol
A few comments on this study. At first glance, it’s wonderful to see components of dark chocolate and plant sterols (found in things like rice and soy) help lower cholesterol and blood pressure as effectively as many medications.
Looking deeper into the study, we find that these patients were all put on an AHA style diet in addition to the nutrient bar containing the flavanols and sterols. Regular readers of updates will know I am not in favor of the AHA guidelines and that they fall short of benefits obtained with a Mediterranean type diet. So why not skip the bars and the AHA diet and adopt the Mediterranean diet in the first place??