Chocolate Helps Prevent Heart Disease in Overweight People

You’re going to love this one! If you’re overweight, then eating dark chocolate, contrary to everything everybody has told you, can improve markers of cardiovascular disease. Translation: chocolate can help prevent the heart disease that is associated with being overweight. . . .

Although small, this study was placebo-controlled and double-blind. It included twenty-four women. Ten of them were normal weight, seven were overweight and seven were obese. The question was, How would eating chocolate affect markers of cardiovascular disease?

Some of the women were given a dark chocolate bar rich in the antioxidant flavonoids that contiribute to so many of dark chocolate’s benefits. The others were given a flavonoid free placebo chocolate bar. They ate one a day for four weeks.

Before eating the chocolate, obese women had significantly higher levels of markers of coronary artery disease and vascular damage. After eating the dark chocolate for four weeks, the markers of coronary artery disease had decreased by a significant 18% in the dark chocolate group. At the begining of the study, the markers of vascular disease were 48% higher in obese women than in normal weight women; after four weeks of dark chocolate they were only 4% higher.

Markers of athersclerosis that were also significantly higher at the start of the study decreased significantly after eating dark chocolate. 

In terms of cholesterol, weight didn’t matter: the heart healthy HDL cholesterol improved by 18% in everybody.

This study will thrill you and shock your weight loss coach. The study shows that, if you’re overweight, you shouldn’t cut out chocolate: you should enjoy it! Just make sure it’s real dark chocolate, loaded in heart healthy flavonoids.

J Nutr Biochem 2015;26:626-32