BOSTON -- There is new evidence of the potential health benefits of an ingredient in dark chocolate.
Several studies have shown flavonoids found in dark chocolate can improve heart health, but new research takes the first look at whether eating dark chocolate can actually lower blood pressure, reported WCVB-TV in Boston.
Researchers at Tufts University in Boston and the University of L'Aquila in Italy found that eating flavanol-rich products -- such as dark chocolates -- might lower blood pressure and improve insulin resistance among people with hypertension.
Some regular customers at All Things Chocolate in Boston are changing their orders to include more dark chocolate.
"I heard about the health benefits, and since I love dark chocolate cherries, I just started buying them a lot more often," one customer said.
"There actually has been a 20 or 30 percent increase in dark chocolate over milk," All Things Chocolate spokeswoman Mikki Moran said.
Researchers looked at 10 men and 10 women with hypertension and high blood pressure who did not have any other health issues. Half the group ate 3.5 ounces of dark chocolate every day for 15 days. The other half ate the same amount of white chocolate, which has no flavonoids. Then, the two groups switched chocolates for another 15 days.
"What they found was the people who ate the dark chocolate had a decrease in blood pressure," said Alice Lichetenstein, a Tufts University spokeswoman.
Systolic blood pressure dropped 12 points and diastolic fell 9. The group eating white chocolate had no change in blood pressure at all. The results are published in Monday's issue of
Hypertension: Journal of the American Heart Association.
But researchers said the findings don't mean you should add too much dark chocolate to your daily diet.
"The amount of chocolate they consumed was equivalent to 480 calories," Lichtenstein said. "I think for most people it would be very difficult for them to do that and the risk of gaining weight and what that would do to their blood pressure would be worse."
What the study does show is the potential for flavonoids to decrease blood pressure.
With more research, scientists said flavonoids could some day be isolated and prescribed for patients with high blood pressure and other heart problems without the added calories and fat in chocolate.
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