Narrator: This is Science Today. Chocolate connoisseurs will be
heartened to learn that a clinical study has linked cocoa
flavanols found in dark chocolates to improved blood vessel
function. Researcher Mary Engler of the University of
California, San Francisco's School of Nursing, says for two
weeks, study participants ate a flavanol-rich, dark chocolate
bar and researchers measured their baseline functions.Engler:
And what we found was that there was at least a two percent
increase when you look at the difference between baseline and
two weeks between the two groups. And in fact, the ones that had
the low flavanoid had a trend to decrease in their endothelial
function, whereas the ones who had the high flavanoid had an
improved endothelial function, which simply means that their
blood vessel was able to dilate more. Narrator: Dark chocolate
has a higher percentage of flavanoids, but consumers can't yet
readily measure this content. Engler: But what is now in process
from the USDA, they're analyzing chocolat