BENEFITS PAGE 1
CFS & Chocolate
Many CFS specialists consider chocolate one of a few substances their patients should stay away from completely. CFS specialist Chuck Lapp, M.D., is one of them.
"I've always recommended that PWCs avoid sugar, caffeine, alcohol, Nutrasweet and tobacco," said Lapp, director of the Hunter Hopkins Center in Charlotte, NC. (He tells patients to remember the things they shouldn't eat by remembering the mnemonic SCANT, the first letter of each of those words.)
"These items are not tolerated well," he said. "PWCs tend to have hypoglycemia, and eating refined sugar - like chocolate candy - triggers reactive hypoglycemia, or a 'let down' in energy a couple hours later. And the cocoa used in cake, for example, doesn't contain refined sugar, but has a caffeine-like effect."
Dick Bruno, M.D., agrees. He's Director of the Fatigue Management Programs and Post-Polio Institute at Englewood Hospital and Medical Center in Englewood, NJ.
"PWCs shouldn't use anything containing caffeine- including chocolate, coffee, tea or soda-to pump themselves up," said Dr. Bruno. "What's more, we discourage the 'sugar high' carbs provide and recommend a hypoglycemia diet: using protein as a long-lasting source of fuel to supply and turn on damaged, brain-activating system neurons."
Researchers have some news for chocolate lovers:
it may be good for you. Scientists reported preliminary evidence recently that cocoa and other chocolates may keep high blood pressure down, your blood flowing and your heart healthy.
The research, the latest which correlates eating flavonoid-rich foods with a reduced risk of cardiovascular disease, was presented in February at the American Association for the Advancement of Science's (AAAS) annual meeting in Boston.
One study found that a substance in cocoa helps the body process nitric oxide (NO), a compound critical for healthy blood flow and blood pressure. Another study showed that flavonols in cocoa prevent fat-like substances in the bloodstream from oxidizing and clogging the arteries, and make blood platelets less likely to stick together and cause clots. Flavonoids are plant compounds with potent antioxidant properties; so far, scientists have found more than 4,000 kinds. Cocoa beans contain large quantities of flavonoids, and so do red wine, tea, cranberries, peanuts, strawberries, apples and many other fruits and vegetables. The flavonoids in chocolate are called flavonols. Generally, science has found that dark chocolate is higher in flavonoids than milk chocolate. The way that cocoa powder and chocolate syrups are manufactured removes most flavonoids.
Nitric Oxide
In the first study, researchers gave Boston volunteers cocoa with either a high or low amount of flavonols. Those who drank cocoa with more flavonols showed more nitric oxide activity.
"Nitric oxide plays such an important role in the maintenance of healthy blood pressure and, in turn, cardiovascular health," said lead researcher Dr. Norman K. Hollenberg, physician and professor of medicine at Brigham and Women's Hospital and Harvard Medical School.
The residents of an island called Kuna in Panama prompted Hollenberg's study. These indigenous people rarely develop high blood pressure, although they drink about 5 cups of cocoa each day and include it in many recipes. But if they leave the island, the risk of high blood pressure increases, and studies found it wasn't related to salt intake or obesity.
Next, Hollenberg's team will determine if regulating nitric oxide with flavonols has a positive impact.
Promotes Blood Flow
The other study compared how blood platelets responded to a flavonol-rich cocoa drink with 25 grams of semi-sweet chocolate pieces and a blood-thinning, 81-milligram aspirin dose. The research found similar reactions to the two from a group of 20- to 40-year-olds: both the drink and the aspirin prevented platelets from sticking together or clotting, which can impede blood flow.
In other words, flavonol-rich cocoa and chocolate act similarly to low-dose aspirin in promoting healthy blood flow. Reducing the blood's ability to clot also reduces the risk of stroke and heart attacks. Lead study author Dr. Carl Keen cautioned that his team isn't suggesting that people eat a couple of candy bars instead of taking their daily dose of aspirin. "We're not advocating that people consume flavonol-rich foods in place of aspirin," stressed Keen, who is also the University of California-Davis nutrition department chairman. For people who cannot take aspirin, however, he said eating flavonol-rich foods "may be a useful approach." He noted one important difference between aspirin and flavonol-rich foods: "The effects you see in aspirin are longer-lasting than the effects you see in flavonols," he said.
Although the trial involved just 40 people, Keen called the results "remarkably robust" and said the platelet effect may be related to the nitric oxide benefits found by Hollenberg's study.