Health by Chocolate
The morale of patients who spend time at the Whitaker Wellness Institute is generally high. These people have
left behind white-coated docs who prescribe drugs and embraced white-coated physicians who prescribe
vitamins. And they are better off for it.
However, morale just went up a notch: Each patient now receives a weekly bar of dark chocolate. I'm glad this
generates smiles, but that's not why I added it to the program. Simply put, dark chocolate is a health food.
"Food of the Gods"
Chocolate comes from the beans of the cacao plant (Theobroma cacoa, literally "food of the gods"). It has been
used for centuries in Mayan and Aztec cultures for culinary, ceremonial, economic (beans were often used as
currency), and medicinal purposes. Chocolate was purported to restore vitality, calm and soothe the
"over-stimulated," treat kidney and digestive problems, and promote virility and longevity.
Spanish conquistador Hernando Cortez was introduced to "xocolatl" by the ruler of the Aztecs, Montezuma, who
reportedly drank 50 cups of a bitter, chili-flavored chocolate drink daily. Cortez, who brought chocolate to
Europe in the early 1500s, described it as, "The divine drink, which builds up resistance and fights fatigue. A
cup of this precious drink permits a man to walk for a whole day without food."
Although chocolate is now considered to be more junk food than health food, recent research may restore it to
its former glory. Scientists have discovered that cocoa liquor, the creamy paste of ground, roasted cacao
beans used to make chocolate, is nature's richest source of polyphenols, a class of phytonutrients with potent
antioxidant activity and other therapeutic effects.
Yes, chocolate has fat and calories - and it tastes way too good to be good for you - but the health benefits of
dark chocolate cannot be denied. Here are five reasons you should add it to your diet.
1. Lowers Blood Pressure
One of cocoa's most abundant polyphenols is flavanol, which stimulates the production of nitric oxide (NO).
Readers of Health & Healing know that NO is a very important signaling molecule. When it is produced in the
arteries, it acts as a vasodilator, relaxing the arteries and causing them to open up, thus bringing down blood
pressure.
German researchers divided older people with mild hypertension into two groups and gave them 100 g dark
chocolate or 90 g white chocolate every day for two weeks. (White chocolate contains no cocoa.) They had a
one-week "washout" period in which they ate no chocolate, followed by another two weeks of eating the other
chocolate. Blood pressure fell in those eating dark chocolate an average of 5.1/1.8 (systolic/diastolic) and did
not change in those eating white chocolate.
2. Improves Insulin Sensitivity
In March 2005, Italian researchers published results of a study with a similar design involving
15 healthy men and women. Glucose tolerance tests were done at the end of each period, and blood pressure
was taken daily. Like the German study, dark chocolates lowered blood pressure. It also significantly improved
markers of insulin sensitivity, decreasing fasting insulin and glucose levels, as well as insulin and glucose
responses to the glucose tolerance test.
Now, I know many of you are thinking that sugar-laden chocolate is the last thing people with diabetes need to
be eating. Yet this study suggests that dark chocolate actually ameliorates blood sugar.
3. Mediates Inflammation
I've written about the role inflammation plays in conditions as diverse as heart disease, diabetes, cancer,
Alzheimer's disease, osteoporosis, and auto immune disorders. In fact, all major chronic diseases are
associated with inflammation.
Cocoa flavanols have been shown to lower inflammation. They do this by reducing blood concentrations of
5-lipoxygenase (5-LO), a key enzyme in the synthesis of leukotrienes. Leukotrienes are highly active
compounds involved in inflamma tion in tissues throughout the body, including pain and allergic reactions.
Dampening the flames of inflammation is crucial for disease treatment and prevention, and dark chocolate is
another tool for doing just that.
4. Protects Against Heart Disease
As you know, elevations in blood pressure, insulin resistance, and inflammation all increase risk of
cardiovascular disease. But chocolate's protective effects go beyond these three mechanisms. Nitric oxide, in
addition to lowering blood pressure, also helps prevent arterial spasms, which temporarily decrease blood flow,
and platelet aggregation, the clumping together of blood cells that reduces blood fluidity and impairs circulation.
Chocolate's potent antioxidants shield the endothelial cells lining the arteries as well as LDL cholesterol against
free radical damage. Dark chocolate has the highest oxygen radical absorbance capacity (ORAL) of any food.
According to this measurement of foods' antioxidant strength, dark chocolate at 13,120 stands head and
shoulders above other high-ORAC foods such as milk chocolate (6,740), raisins (2,830), blueberries (2,400),
spinach (1,260), broccoli (890), and red grapes (739).
Dark chocolate also has positive effects on cholesterol levels. Although its hefty saturated fat content may give
one pause, most of that fat is stearic acid, which, unlike other saturated fats, has no adverse effects on
cholesterol levels. In fact, dark chocolate actually appears to raise protective HDL cholesterol, while having no
effect on LDL.
The cardiovascular benefits of dark chocolate are so potent that it was recently named one of the seven
heart-healthiest foods, along with wine, fish, fruits, vegetables, garlic, and almonds. In an article published in
the British Medical Journal, research ers theorized that including these foods in your diet would reduce
cardiovascular events by an astounding 76 percent and increase life expectancy in men and women by 6.6 and
4.8 years, respectively.
5. Makes You Feel Good
There's something about chocolate that goes beyond satisfying your sweet tooth or hunger pangs. Maybe it's
the smooth, creamy "mouth-feel" we find so comforting. It might be an emotional connection to all those
chocolate Easter bunnies and special treats from our childhood. Or it could be chocolate's tryptophan and
phenylethylamine, which increase levels of neurotransmitters associated with sensations of pleasure. There is
even research to suggest that compounds in chocolate stimulate the same "feel-good" receptors as falling in
love. (No wonder chocolate and Valentine's Day are inseparable.)
For whatever reason, most of us like chocolate, and some of us crave it like nothing else. An unknown
chocoholic once said, "There are four basic food groups: milk chocolate, dark chocolate, white chocolate, and
chocolate truffles." However, if you want to reap the health benefits discussed in this article, stick with dark
chocolate.
Recommendations:
High-quality dark chocolate is sold in health food, specialty, and grocery stores. Look for bars that contain 70
percent cocoa or more. Don't be put off by the fat content, and expect it to have some sugar. Unsweetened
dark chocolate is extremely bitter, and even sweetened, it is for some an acquired taste, so shop around for a
brand you like. Aim for about 50 g (1.75 ounces), or half of a large bar, daily. To keep caloric intake steady, eat
in place of, rather than in addition to, other foods or snacks.
References:
Dillinger TL et al. Food of the gods: cure for humanity? A cultural history of the medicinal and ritual use of
chocolate, Nutr. 2000 Aug;130(8S Suppl):2057S-72S.
Taubert D et al. Chocolate and blood pressure in elderly indi viduals with isolated systolic hypertension. JAMA.
2003 Aug 27;290(8):1029-30.
Grassi D et al. Short-term administration of dark chocolate is followed by a significant increase in insulin
sensitivity and a decrease in blood pressure in healthy persons. Am J Clin Nutr 2005;81:611-4.
Sies H et al. Cocoa polyphenols and inflammatory mediators. Am J Clin Nutr. 2005 Jan;81(1 Suppl):304S-312S.
Franco OH et al. The Polymeal: a more natural, safer, and probably tastier (than the Polypill) strategy to reduce
cardiovascular disease by more than 75%. BMJ. 2004 18 December;329:1447-1450.
Julian Whitaker, MD, has practiced medicine for over 26 years, after receiving degrees from Dartmouth
College and Emory University. Dr. Whitaker has long been an advocate of living a healthy life. Dr. Whitaker is
compensated on the sales of the supplements he formulates for Forward Nutrition, a division of Doctors'
Preferred, LLC. He is not compensated for other companies' products that he recommends in this newsletter.
He is the author of eight major health books: Reversing Hypertension, The Memory Solution, Shed 10 Years in
10 Weeks, The Pain Relief Breakthrough, Reversing Heart Disease, Reversing Diabetes, and Dr Whitaker's
Guide to Natural Healing.
Dr. Julian Whitaker's Health & Healing® (ISSN 1057-9273) is published monthly by Healthy Directions, LLC,
7811 Montrose Road, Potomac, MD 20854-3394, telephone (800) 539-8219. Please write to us at PO Box
2050, Forrester Center, WV 25438 or call if you have a question concerning your subscription. Periodicals
postage paid at Rockville, MD and additional mailing offices. Postmaster: Send address changes to Dr. Julian
Whitaker's Health & Healing, PO Box 2050, Forrester Center, WV 25438.
Author: Julian Whitaker, MD
Publisher: Robert Kroening
Assistant Editor: Thomas Ehart
CEO: Kevin Donoghue
Sr. Managing Editor: Clifford Brownstein
Research Editor: Peggy Dace
Assistant Research Editor: Ryann Smith
© Copyright 2005, Healthy Directions, LLC. Photocopying, reproduction, or quotation strictly prohibited without
written permission of the publisher. Subscription: $69.99 per year. Dr. Julian Whitaker's Health & Healing is
dedicated to providing timely, accurate information by drawing on Dr. Whitaker's expert opinion and experience.
Dr. Julian Whitaker's Health & Healing cannot offer medical services; we encourage our readers to seek advice
from competent medical professionals for their personal health needs. Dr. Whitaker will respond in the
newsletter to questions of general interest.
www.drwhitaker.com/
The morale of patients who spend time at the Whitaker Wellness Institute is generally high. These people have
left behind white-coated docs who prescribe drugs and embraced white-coated physicians who prescribe
vitamins. And they are better off for it.
However, morale just went up a notch: Each patient now receives a weekly bar of dark chocolate. I'm glad this
generates smiles, but that's not why I added it to the program. Simply put, dark chocolate is a health food.
"Food of the Gods"
Chocolate comes from the beans of the cacao plant (Theobroma cacoa, literally "food of the gods"). It has been
used for centuries in Mayan and Aztec cultures for culinary, ceremonial, economic (beans were often used as
currency), and medicinal purposes. Chocolate was purported to restore vitality, calm and soothe the
"over-stimulated," treat kidney and digestive problems, and promote virility and longevity.
Spanish conquistador Hernando Cortez was introduced to "xocolatl" by the ruler of the Aztecs, Montezuma, who
reportedly drank 50 cups of a bitter, chili-flavored chocolate drink daily. Cortez, who brought chocolate to
Europe in the early 1500s, described it as, "The divine drink, which builds up resistance and fights fatigue. A
cup of this precious drink permits a man to walk for a whole day without food."
Although chocolate is now considered to be more junk food than health food, recent research may restore it to
its former glory. Scientists have discovered that cocoa liquor, the creamy paste of ground, roasted cacao
beans used to make chocolate, is nature's richest source of polyphenols, a class of phytonutrients with potent
antioxidant activity and other therapeutic effects.
Yes, chocolate has fat and calories - and it tastes way too good to be good for you - but the health benefits of
dark chocolate cannot be denied. Here are five reasons you should add it to your diet.
1. Lowers Blood Pressure
One of cocoa's most abundant polyphenols is flavanol, which stimulates the production of nitric oxide (NO).
Readers of Health & Healing know that NO is a very important signaling molecule. When it is produced in the
arteries, it acts as a vasodilator, relaxing the arteries and causing them to open up, thus bringing down blood
pressure.
German researchers divided older people with mild hypertension into two groups and gave them 100 g dark
chocolate or 90 g white chocolate every day for two weeks. (White chocolate contains no cocoa.) They had a
one-week "washout" period in which they ate no chocolate, followed by another two weeks of eating the other
chocolate. Blood pressure fell in those eating dark chocolate an average of 5.1/1.8 (systolic/diastolic) and did
not change in those eating white chocolate.
2. Improves Insulin Sensitivity
In March 2005, Italian researchers published results of a study with a similar design involving
15 healthy men and women. Glucose tolerance tests were done at the end of each period, and blood pressure
was taken daily. Like the German study, dark chocolates lowered blood pressure. It also significantly improved
markers of insulin sensitivity, decreasing fasting insulin and glucose levels, as well as insulin and glucose
responses to the glucose tolerance test.
Now, I know many of you are thinking that sugar-laden chocolate is the last thing people with diabetes need to
be eating. Yet this study suggests that dark chocolate actually ameliorates blood sugar.
3. Mediates Inflammation
I've written about the role inflammation plays in conditions as diverse as heart disease, diabetes, cancer,
Alzheimer's disease, osteoporosis, and auto immune disorders. In fact, all major chronic diseases are
associated with inflammation.
Cocoa flavanols have been shown to lower inflammation. They do this by reducing blood concentrations of
5-lipoxygenase (5-LO), a key enzyme in the synthesis of leukotrienes. Leukotrienes are highly active
compounds involved in inflamma tion in tissues throughout the body, including pain and allergic reactions.
Dampening the flames of inflammation is crucial for disease treatment and prevention, and dark chocolate is
another tool for doing just that.
4. Protects Against Heart Disease
As you know, elevations in blood pressure, insulin resistance, and inflammation all increase risk of
cardiovascular disease. But chocolate's protective effects go beyond these three mechanisms. Nitric oxide, in
addition to lowering blood pressure, also helps prevent arterial spasms, which temporarily decrease blood flow,
and platelet aggregation, the clumping together of blood cells that reduces blood fluidity and impairs circulation.
Chocolate's potent antioxidants shield the endothelial cells lining the arteries as well as LDL cholesterol against
free radical damage. Dark chocolate has the highest oxygen radical absorbance capacity (ORAL) of any food.
According to this measurement of foods' antioxidant strength, dark chocolate at 13,120 stands head and
shoulders above other high-ORAC foods such as milk chocolate (6,740), raisins (2,830), blueberries (2,400),
spinach (1,260), broccoli (890), and red grapes (739).
Dark chocolate also has positive effects on cholesterol levels. Although its hefty saturated fat content may give
one pause, most of that fat is stearic acid, which, unlike other saturated fats, has no adverse effects on
cholesterol levels. In fact, dark chocolate actually appears to raise protective HDL cholesterol, while having no
effect on LDL.
The cardiovascular benefits of dark chocolate are so potent that it was recently named one of the seven
heart-healthiest foods, along with wine, fish, fruits, vegetables, garlic, and almonds. In an article published in
the British Medical Journal, research ers theorized that including these foods in your diet would reduce
cardiovascular events by an astounding 76 percent and increase life expectancy in men and women by 6.6 and
4.8 years, respectively.
5. Makes You Feel Good
There's something about chocolate that goes beyond satisfying your sweet tooth or hunger pangs. Maybe it's
the smooth, creamy "mouth-feel" we find so comforting. It might be an emotional connection to all those
chocolate Easter bunnies and special treats from our childhood. Or it could be chocolate's tryptophan and
phenylethylamine, which increase levels of neurotransmitters associated with sensations of pleasure. There is
even research to suggest that compounds in chocolate stimulate the same "feel-good" receptors as falling in
love. (No wonder chocolate and Valentine's Day are inseparable.)
For whatever reason, most of us like chocolate, and some of us crave it like nothing else. An unknown
chocoholic once said, "There are four basic food groups: milk chocolate, dark chocolate, white chocolate, and
chocolate truffles." However, if you want to reap the health benefits discussed in this article, stick with dark
chocolate.
Recommendations:
High-quality dark chocolate is sold in health food, specialty, and grocery stores. Look for bars that contain 70
percent cocoa or more. Don't be put off by the fat content, and expect it to have some sugar. Unsweetened
dark chocolate is extremely bitter, and even sweetened, it is for some an acquired taste, so shop around for a
brand you like. Aim for about 50 g (1.75 ounces), or half of a large bar, daily. To keep caloric intake steady, eat
in place of, rather than in addition to, other foods or snacks.
References:
Dillinger TL et al. Food of the gods: cure for humanity? A cultural history of the medicinal and ritual use of
chocolate, Nutr. 2000 Aug;130(8S Suppl):2057S-72S.
Taubert D et al. Chocolate and blood pressure in elderly indi viduals with isolated systolic hypertension. JAMA.
2003 Aug 27;290(8):1029-30.
Grassi D et al. Short-term administration of dark chocolate is followed by a significant increase in insulin
sensitivity and a decrease in blood pressure in healthy persons. Am J Clin Nutr 2005;81:611-4.
Sies H et al. Cocoa polyphenols and inflammatory mediators. Am J Clin Nutr. 2005 Jan;81(1 Suppl):304S-312S.
Franco OH et al. The Polymeal: a more natural, safer, and probably tastier (than the Polypill) strategy to reduce
cardiovascular disease by more than 75%. BMJ. 2004 18 December;329:1447-1450.
Julian Whitaker, MD, has practiced medicine for over 26 years, after receiving degrees from Dartmouth
College and Emory University. Dr. Whitaker has long been an advocate of living a healthy life. Dr. Whitaker is
compensated on the sales of the supplements he formulates for Forward Nutrition, a division of Doctors'
Preferred, LLC. He is not compensated for other companies' products that he recommends in this newsletter.
He is the author of eight major health books: Reversing Hypertension, The Memory Solution, Shed 10 Years in
10 Weeks, The Pain Relief Breakthrough, Reversing Heart Disease, Reversing Diabetes, and Dr Whitaker's
Guide to Natural Healing.
Dr. Julian Whitaker's Health & Healing® (ISSN 1057-9273) is published monthly by Healthy Directions, LLC,
7811 Montrose Road, Potomac, MD 20854-3394, telephone (800) 539-8219. Please write to us at PO Box
2050, Forrester Center, WV 25438 or call if you have a question concerning your subscription. Periodicals
postage paid at Rockville, MD and additional mailing offices. Postmaster: Send address changes to Dr. Julian
Whitaker's Health & Healing, PO Box 2050, Forrester Center, WV 25438.
Author: Julian Whitaker, MD
Publisher: Robert Kroening
Assistant Editor: Thomas Ehart
CEO: Kevin Donoghue
Sr. Managing Editor: Clifford Brownstein
Research Editor: Peggy Dace
Assistant Research Editor: Ryann Smith
© Copyright 2005, Healthy Directions, LLC. Photocopying, reproduction, or quotation strictly prohibited without
written permission of the publisher. Subscription: $69.99 per year. Dr. Julian Whitaker's Health & Healing is
dedicated to providing timely, accurate information by drawing on Dr. Whitaker's expert opinion and experience.
Dr. Julian Whitaker's Health & Healing cannot offer medical services; we encourage our readers to seek advice
from competent medical professionals for their personal health needs. Dr. Whitaker will respond in the
newsletter to questions of general interest.
www.drwhitaker.com/