Have cocoa for a healthy heart

Chocoho-lics, rejoice! Scientists have found that consuming flavanol-rich cocoa products such as dark chocolates may benefit cardiovascular health.

Scientists conducted a systematic review and meta-analysis of 19 randomised controlled trials (RCTs) of cocoa consumption.

The meta-analysis focused on whether consumption of flavanol-rich cocoa products was associated with improvements in specific circulating biomarkers of cardiometabolic health as compared to consuming placebos with negligible cocoa flavanol content.

In all, 1,139 volunteers were involved in these trials.”Our meta-analysis of RCTs characterises how cocoa flavanols affect cardiometabolic biomarkers, providing guidance in designing large, definitive prevention trials against diabetes and cardiovascular disease in future work,” said Simin Liu, professor at Brown University in the US.

“We found that cocoa flavanol intake may reduce dyslipidemia (elevated triglycerides), insulin resistance and systemic inflammation, which are all major subclinical risk factors for cardiometabolic diseases,” said Liu.

The team’s research summarising data from 19 trials found potential beneficial effects of flavanol-rich cocoa on cardiometabolic health.