Chocolate vs Heart Failure

Well, Valentine's Day is just a week away so I thought I'd review a randomized, double-blind, placebo-controlled study published just under 2 months ago in European Heart Journal looking at the beneficial effect of flavanol-rich chocolate on patients with heart failure.  Specifically, the authors compared flavanol-rich chocolate to cocoa-liquor-free control chocolate, both manufactured by Nestle, the former commercially available as Nestle Noir Intense, in patients with typical systolic heart failure.  

Vascular effects were measure three times, acutely 12 hours after initial intake of 1 bar and chronically after 2 weeks and 4 weeks of daily consumption of 2 bars.  And the bars?  The Nestle Noir Intense contained 10.5g of sugar and 17.9g of fat per 40g serving with 70% cocoa content.  The cocoa-liquor-free control chocolate weighed in at 28.4g per serving but was equivalent in both sugar & fat content.

Now, in case you wondering if I have a financial stake in Nestle, I don't, at least not directly to my knowledge as all my investments are in mutual funds and who knows what the fund managers are buying & selling on a daily basis.  So in an attempt at fair play, I direct your attention to www.chocosphere.com (and, no I don't have a financial stake here either) or any other retail website devoted to chocolate.  The purpose of describing the chocolate used in this study in such detail is to allow you to replicate the study or at least find similar chocolates close by at home.  Unfortunately, milk chocolate and chocolate candy probably won't suffice.

Granted the study size was small, just 10 patients in each group, average age 58-60yo & predominantly male w/ejection fraction 30-35%.  Yet, the authors noted statistically significant improvements in endothelial and platelet function, both acutely and after 4 weeks consumption of flavanol-rich chocolate compared to cocoa-liquor-free chocolate.  

The next question is whether these results can be reproduced in a larger group and, more importantly, whether any clinically significant benefits can be demonstrated, eg decrease in mortality, or at least improvement in physical performance measures and/or quality of life.  In the meantime, look for flavanol-rich chocolate for your Valentine, especially if s/he has heart failure.

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