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medpundit |
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Monday, August 30, 2004The scientists, who presented their work Sunday at Europe's most important cardiology conference, gave 3.5 ounces of either dark, bittersweet, chocolate or fake chocolate to 17 healthy volunteers. On another day, the volunteers were switched. They had no chocolate outside of the study, and investigators did not know what each volunteer ate during the study. An ultrasound was taken of each volunteer's upper arm to see the functioning of the endothelial cells in the main artery. The cells accomplish their goal of controlling the stiffness of the blood vessel by secreting several active substances that regulate the flexibility of the vessel and influence clot formation. 'During the chocolate session, endothelial function was improved, whereas during the placebo day there were no such changes,' the study concluded. 'The favorable effects of dark chocolate lasted for three hours at least.' The fact that it improves blood flow for a few hours in an arm doesn't necessarily mean that eating chocolate prevents heart attacks, but those of who like chocolate can feel a little less guilty about eating it. posted by Sydney on 8/30/2004 08:16:00 AM 0 comments 0 Comments: |
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