Small doses of dark chocolate lowers blood pressure

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NEW YORK, July 4 (Xinhua): A small dose of dark chocolate lowers blood pressure without causing weight gain, according to a new study published in the Journal of the American Medical Association Tuesday.
"We found that it's good to eat small amounts of dark chocolate every day on a regular basis," said lead study author Dr Dirk Taubert, a professor at the University Hospital of Cologne, Germany.
Taubert and his research team doled out daily "doses" of either white chocolate or dark chocolate to 44 adults with slightly high blood pressure, between 130/85 and 160/100.
The participants had their blood pressure monitored for 18 weeks.
The group that ate the dark chocolate reduced its systolic (top number) blood pressure by 2.9, and its diastolic (bottom number) blood pressure by 1.9. The participants who ate the white chocolate saw no such benefits.
Taubert said, "At first glance, a decrease of two or three points may be very small, but if everyone would experience a reduction of blood pressure in this range, you would have a reduction of coronary artery disease mortality of 5 per cent, and this is clinically relevant."