Australian researchers have found that eating a block of dark chocolate daily for 10 years has “significant” benefits for high-risk cardiac patients and could prevent heart attacks and strokes.
A study of 2,013 Australians conducted at Melbourne’s Monash University found that the consumption of 100 grams of chocolate with a 70 percent or higher cocoa content every day was effective for reducing risk of heart disease.
Lead researcher Ella Zomer said the team found that 70 fatal and 15 non-fatal cardiovascular events per 10,000 people could be prevented if patients at risk of having a heart attack or stroke ate dark chocolate.
“We’ve predicted significant health benefits of eating 100 grams of dark chocolate every day over a 10-year period,” Zomer said of the study, published in the British Medical Journal.
“Our findings indicate dark chocolate therapy could provide an alternative to or be used to complement drug therapeutics in people at high risk of cardiovascular disease,” she added.
Zomer’s research partner Chris Reid said measurements from the subjects, all of whom had classic risk factors such as high blood pressure and elevated cholesterol or body weight, were run through epidemiological modeling.
The projections of likely deaths and other non-fatal events between those who consumed dark chocolate and those who did not were compared, and there was a notable difference.
“One of the appeals of this study is here is a dietary alternative which may be quite appealing to a lot of people. In fact, chocolate studies have shown really good compliance rates,” Reid said.
High-cocoa chocolate is beneficial because it contains antioxidant chemicals called polyphenols which help keep blood vessels dilated, reducing blood pressure and improving blood flow.
Green tea and brightly colored fruits, such as red apples and blueberries, are also major sources of polyphenols.
Reid said it was important to find ways to reduce heart disease as Australia’s population aged and the increasing numbers of at-risk people could use lifestyle, dietary and exercise changes to head off the need for drugs.
Experts have cautioned that excessive consumption of dark chocolate leads to obesity, itself a leading cause of cardiovascular disease.
Kouri Richins, a Utah mother who published a children’s book about grief after the death of her husband is to serve a life sentence for his murder without the possibility of parole, a judge ruled on Wednesday. Richins was convicted in March of aggravated murder for lacing a cocktail given to her husband, Eric Richins, with five times the lethal dose of fentanyl at their home near Park City in 2022. A jury also found her guilty of four other felonies, including insurance fraud, forgery and attempted murder for trying to poison her husband weeks earlier on Feb. 14, 2022, with a
‘PERSONAL MISTAKES’: Eileen Wang has agreed to plead guilty to the felony, which comes with a maximum sentence of 10 years in federal prison A southern California mayor has agreed to plead guilty to acting as an illegal agent for the Chinese government and has resigned from her city position, officials said on Monday. Eileen Wang (王愛琳), mayor of Arcadia, was charged last month with one count of acting in the US as an illegal agent of a foreign government. She was accused of doing the bidding of Chinese officials, such as sharing articles favorable to Beijing, without prior notification to the US government as required by law. The 58-year-old was elected in November 2022 to a five-person city council, from which the mayor is selected
DELA ROSA CASE: The whereabouts of the senator, who is wanted by the ICC, was unclear, while President Marcos faces a political test over the senate situation Philippine authorities yesterday were seeking confirmation of reports that a top politician wanted by the International Criminal Court (ICC) had fled, a day after gunfire rang out at the Philippine Senate where he had taken refuge fearing his arrest. Senator Ronald “Bato” dela Rosa, the former national police chief and top enforcer of former Philippine president Rodrigo Duterte’s “war on drugs,” has been under Senate protection and is wanted for crimes against humanity, the same charges Duterte is accused of. “Several sources confirmed that the senator, Senator Bato, is no longer in the Senate premises, but we are still getting confirmation,” Presidential
HELP DENIED? The US Department of State said that the Cuban leadership refuses to allow the US to provide aid to Cubans, ‘who are in desperate need of assistance’ US Secretary of State Marco Rubio on Wednesday said that Cuba’s leadership must change, as Washington renewed an offer of US$100 million in aid if the communist nation agrees to cooperate. Cuba has been suffering severe economic tumult led by an energy shortage that plunged 65 percent of the country into darkness on Tuesday. Cuba’s leaders have blamed US sanctions, but Rubio, a Cuban American and critic of the government established by Fidel Castro, said the system was to blame, including corruption by the military. “It’s a broken, nonfunctional economy, and it’s impossible to change it. I wish it were different,” he told
RSS