LifeCare Chiropractic

The Best Chiropractic Care in Mesa, Arizona

Cocoa

Is Dark Chocolate Good for You? What About Weight Gain?

by

Chocolate.  Even the word brings happy thoughts.  But society has attached some incorrect negative connotations to the word and has strayed away from the idea that dark chocolate is good for you.

First of all, let’s clarify that we are talking about DARK chocolate here, not the dreaded milk chocoate that contains dairy and no cacao.  Cacao is the bean that we use to make dark chocolate and cocoa and the research on how protective this bean is to our health is strong.

In general, the higher the cacao content, the more bitter the product but the stronger the health benefits to your heart and brain.  Straight up cacao (which I use in my mochas at the office) has a definite bitter taste.  When we buy chocolate bars, we make sure they’re high cacao content sweetened with pomegrante, boysenberry or blueberries, which balances out the bitterness.

Back to the largest concern that most people have with chocolate consumption:  it’s going to lead to weight gain.  I just heard this concern from a participant at a class I was teaching this week on prediabetes and dementia.  Luckily, I had just flagged this particular article to answer this concern effectively.

Researchers looked at the relationship between chocolate consumption and weight gain in 1458 European teens.  Overall, those who had higher chocolate consumption had lower body weight and abdominal obesity.  Pretty cool news.

“Higher consumption” is a little vague. Personally, I have no issues with a square or two of dark chocolate per day, a teaspoon of powdered cacao in my mocha or some dark chocolate with mixed raw nuts as a snack on a daily basis.

I had written an article on the potential benefits of dark chocolate over drugs to lower cholesterol in those with high cholesterol levels that can be read by clicking here.  In the study referenced, the authors were suggesting some 100 grams of dark chocolate daily.  For those of you not familiar with how heavy the typical bar of chocolate is, it’s under 100 grams.  Again, pretty cool…

 

What Are You Snacking on? Make Better Brain Choices

by

When the idea of snacks are brought up, the scary choices like Doritos, chips and nachos come to mind.  But what do you think these do to your brain?

Becomes vaguely reminiscent of the “This is your brain.  This is your brain on drugs.” commercials.  The unhealthy fats in most snacks (high in omega 6 from corn, soybean and cottonseed oils) have been linked to lower IQs and overall brain function.  Personally, I would prefer eating snacks that support brain health rather than destroy it.

Enter the beloved cacao bean.  Believed to have originally been grown in the shadow of the Andes mountains, the cacao bean is most commonly used to make chocolate and cocoa; two food items that are rarely thrown across the room by disgruntled toddlers.  Here’s the best part—the research consistently and strongly shows that cacao based compounds are really protective to your blood vessels.  Protect your blood vessels and you protect your brain and heart.  If these benefits came from gnawing on bark and grass from an untainted field, I could understand some reluctance.  But it’s chocolate.

This particular study yet again demonstrates to benefits of cacao compounds on the brain.  Researchers looked at neurovascular coupling, a term referring to the changes in blood flow that occur with activation of certain areas of the brain.

60 participants at an average age of 72.9 years were given cocoa and followed for one month.  They were evaluated for both neurovascular coupling and cognitive function measured via the Mini-Mental State Examination and the Trail Making Test A and B (A targets are all numbers and the test taker needs to connect them in sequential order, and B alternates between numbers and letters).  The test were evaluated at the 24 hour mark and the one month mark.  When possible, MRIs were also used to look at the white matter of the brain.  Here’s what they found:

  • In those participants who had impaired neurovascular coupling at the beginning of the trial, results improved (from -2.4% up to 5.6%).
  • Times to complete Trail B improved 44% as well (from 116 to 167 seconds).
  • Under MRI, the white matter of the brain demonstrate better structural integrity.

While some of the results may seem a little confusing, let me sum it up for you:

You need to take more cocoa, dark chocolate and straight up cacao.  Pretty simple.

Flavanol-rich cocoa induces nitric-oxide-dependent vasodilation – (07-02-04)

by

Flavanol-rich cocoa induces nitric-oxide-dependent vasodilation

Now isn’t this just wonderful news to many of us out there… Cocoa is known to have a higher flavonoid content then tea or red wine. However, the article does point out two important factors–”dutching” of chocolate reduces flavonoid levels, and the milk in milk chocolate binds up the flavonoid, lowering their effectiveness. Stick with dark chocolate.

Read entire article here

COCOA REDUCES BLOOD PRESSURE AND INSULIN RESISTANCE – (08-01-05)

by

Cocoa Reduces Blood Pressure and Insulin Resistance and Improves Endothelium-Dependent Vasodilation in Hypertensives

Need I say more?  Of course.  Remember, the mostly likely compound that protects in chocolate is the flavanols (also found in red grapes, tea, coffee) and this is NOT milk or white chocolate.  Hersheys is not going to suddenly promote Mr. Goodbar as a way to stay healthy (unless, of course, they took the same “twist the research to support your marketing” classes that the dairy industry attends…).  Stick with the dark chocolate.

Ironically, however, I have not seen a strong push to come up with a supplement that is made up of dehydrated chocolate or something along those lines to achieve the same benefits.  Guess that would be a hard sell…”here, take two capsules and day,” or “how ’bout some chocolate?”

Read entire article here

EFFECT OF COCOA AND TEA ON BLOOD PRESSURE – (12-03-07)

by

Effect of Cocoa and Tea Intake on Blood Pressure

Let’s face it. Adding dark chocolate to your daily life really isn’t all that painful. Dark chocolate is a regular staple around our house and my 2 year old always gets a small corner of whatever I’m eating. This article is actually a meta-analysis, looking at 5 different studies on cocoa consumption and blood pressure.

The authors concluded that, in a mere 2 wks, that cocoa could drop systolic blood pressure an average of 4.7 mm. Not that may not sound like much, but remember that the best approach to any chronic condition is multifactorial, and in this case increasing intake of dark chocolate is only one intervention that would be used to help manage blood pressure along w/ managing insulin resistance, exercise and stress management.

Read entire article here