>>>
this morning on "today's" health, is
chocolate
good for you? according to a new study
chocolate
eaters may not only be getting their
sweet tooth
but lowering their risk for
heart disease
. dr. carrie peterson is an internist and "women's health" contributor. the headline sounds great,
chocolate
is good for you, but there are some important caveats. before we get into that part of it, tell us the good news, why is
chocolate
good for us?
>>
what the study found is looking at outcome on
chocolate
's ability to prevent cardio
metabolic disease
. they found that high
chocolate
consumption does decrease the risk of developing cardio
metabolic disease
by 30%. the outcomes looked at were stroke,
heart attack
, and diabetes.
>>
the effects were significant.
>>
30% is considered significant, yeah.
>>
now, this study was one of those analysis of other studies. they looked at more than 100,000 people. there were shortcomings. the researchers were pretty candid about all that we don't know about
chocolate
.
>>
that's correct. one limitation of this study is that it does not determine the quantity of
chocolate
that was consumed. it only divided into categories such as once a month or once a week. so we don't have that factor. and in addition, it did not tell us what type of
chocolate
was consumed, be it white or milk or
dark chocolate
. we know
dark chocolate
has the highest flavonoid content.
>>
there seems to be a bigs a center risk with this study. accessive consumption would induce
weight gain
. they're saying, yes, high amounts of
chocolate
may be good for us in one respect with regard to
heart disease
, but then again the sugar and fat can provide its own problems.
>>
that's correct, because commercially available
chocolate
is ladened with sugar and fat. that can cause
weight gain
.
weight gain
may counter act any of the benefit wes see here.
>>
out of curiosity, what property does
chocolate
have that makes it healthful. i have in my notes something called flavonoid.
>>
cocoa contains flavonoids. it induces these effects in a number of ways. first, it has anti-oxidant properties. these protect our cells from free radical damage. it also has anti-inflammatory properties which will prevent the development of plaque in the arteries. in addition, it can prevent clot formation by inhibiting platelet platele platelets. finally, it can enhance the ability of the anti-oxidants that we take in such as
vitamin c
, to work.
>>
so the flavonoids are good. are there other foods that are less fun than
chocolate
that are beneficial?
>>
there are, there are many who are not nearly as high in fat. greens and green and
black tea
, blackberries, cherries, and apricots, to name
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