On Jan. 2, I wrote about cocoa’s cancer-fighting properties.
Now, when you shop for organic food, there’s another reason to
pick up a tin of organic cocoa. A study of elderly Dutch men
indicates that eating or drinking cocoa is associated with lower
blood pressure and a reduced risk of death, according to an
article in yesterday’s edition of the Archives of Internal
Medicine. Cocoa has been linked to cardiovascular health
benefits since at least the 18th century, but researchers are
just beginning to collect scientific evidence for these claims,
according to background information in the article. Cocoa is now
known to contain chemicals called flavan-3-ols, which have been
linked to lower blood pressure and improved function of the
cells lining the blood vessels. Brian Buijsse, MSc, of the
National Institute for Public Health and the Environment in
Bilthoven, The Netherlands, and his colleagues examined cocoa’s
relationship to cardiovascular health in 470 Dutch men ages 65
to 84. The men underwent physical exa