Cocoa & dark chocolate can lower blood pressure & do prevent strokes and heart attacks....
Today's Post: Tuesday, 2-23-2010
Today I got an email from the HSI health organization that highlights the finding that the Kuna Indians who live on a group of islands off the Caribbean coast of Panama have no high blood pressure and that even after age 60, the average blood pressure for these Indians is 110/70. In the United States, only healthy 16 year olds that are trim have blood pressures that low.
A friend who knows that I have an interest in nondrug ways to lower high blood pressure also emailed me a second copy since the information in it was so spectacular.
Even more surprising, these Kuna Indians eat as much salt on the average as people in the U.S.
They also have lower death rates from heart attacks, strokes, diabetes, and cancer.
Harvard researchers discovered that all this is because they drink about 5 cups of cocoa each day.
That’s only half or a quarter of the story though.
They drink zero soft drinks either regular or diet, repeat NONE. They clearly add no sugar or cream or milk to their cocoa. And they do NOT use a hot chocolate or cocoa mix that contains transfats that cause cardiovascular disease.
(Ghirardelli's makes an unsweetened cocoa that works. Unlike virtually all their other hot chocolate mixes, their unsweetened cocoa has no added hydrogenated oils.
Those other mixes needless to say, are NOT good for you. Do NOT buy or consume them.
But their unsweetened cocoa is decently chocolaty and health supporting. I put a two heaping spoonfuls into a large medium sized coffee cup of just boiled water leaving enough room for a bit of cold water. Then I carefully whisk the cocoa into the hot water and add the bit of cold. Not bad!)
Plus, there's even more to the story.
Why do people try to lower high blood pressure? It doesn't hurt or make you feel sick unless it's extremely high. (Blood pressure that high is a call 911 & pray kind of emergency.)
They've been told correctly I think that if they don't lower it they are more likely to get a heart attack or stroke. (The studies say that’s so for blood pressure higher than 160 over 100 and somewhat the case for over 140 over 90 but not over 160 over 100.)
People who drink cocoa with no milk or eat dark chocolate also are less likely to have strokes and less likely to die if they have one. And, they are also less likely to have a heart attack or die if they have one. That's in addition to any lowering of their blood pressure.
In fact, a study showing this is so for protection from strokes and dying from them was just in the online health news in the last day or so.
One millionaire in fact who heard that people who have eaten chocolate within the previous week are significantly more likely to survive if they have a heart attack said he now eats dark chocolate as a small desert almost 7 days a week.
Second, being too fat, obesity, is a reliable cause of high blood pressure. So one way to lower it is to lose several pounds of fat. But drinking 3 soft drinks a day tends to add 45 pounds of fat to the people who do it. Losing 45 pounds of fat can cut your blood pressure by 22 points. That's as much as a good, two drug, combination at doses that give some people side effects.
So, what do you recommend to people who insist on a drink that helps them feel good once you've told them that the soft drinks are killing them with obesity and high blood pressure they otherwise would not have?
One good answer is to have them drink hot cocoa or eat occasional treats of dark chocolate.
The hot unsweetened cocoa with no milk or sugar added is better for getting and staying free of excess fat while the dark chocolate is more of a treat and may have more of the flavonols thought to be the protective part of chocolate.
My own solution is to have one quarter of a small Hershey’s dark chocolate bar four days a week and have cocoa on Saturday and on Sunday.
That way I only have 21 calories from sugar each week. But I get very regular doses of chocolate.
I’ve not gotten my blood pressure down to 110 over 70. But it may be somewhat lower than it otherwise would have been. And of more importance, I’ve added considerably to my protection from heart attacks and strokes and from dying of either one.
Like me, you may not have time to fix 5 cups of cocoa a day or be able to do so at work.
But, as you can see, you CAN make use of this information and gain health and life protection from doing so.
Today's Post: Tuesday, 2-23-2010
Today I got an email from the HSI health organization that highlights the finding that the Kuna Indians who live on a group of islands off the Caribbean coast of Panama have no high blood pressure and that even after age 60, the average blood pressure for these Indians is 110/70. In the United States, only healthy 16 year olds that are trim have blood pressures that low.
A friend who knows that I have an interest in nondrug ways to lower high blood pressure also emailed me a second copy since the information in it was so spectacular.
Even more surprising, these Kuna Indians eat as much salt on the average as people in the U.S.
They also have lower death rates from heart attacks, strokes, diabetes, and cancer.
Harvard researchers discovered that all this is because they drink about 5 cups of cocoa each day.
That’s only half or a quarter of the story though.
They drink zero soft drinks either regular or diet, repeat NONE. They clearly add no sugar or cream or milk to their cocoa. And they do NOT use a hot chocolate or cocoa mix that contains transfats that cause cardiovascular disease.
(Ghirardelli's makes an unsweetened cocoa that works. Unlike virtually all their other hot chocolate mixes, their unsweetened cocoa has no added hydrogenated oils.
Those other mixes needless to say, are NOT good for you. Do NOT buy or consume them.
But their unsweetened cocoa is decently chocolaty and health supporting. I put a two heaping spoonfuls into a large medium sized coffee cup of just boiled water leaving enough room for a bit of cold water. Then I carefully whisk the cocoa into the hot water and add the bit of cold. Not bad!)
Plus, there's even more to the story.
Why do people try to lower high blood pressure? It doesn't hurt or make you feel sick unless it's extremely high. (Blood pressure that high is a call 911 & pray kind of emergency.)
They've been told correctly I think that if they don't lower it they are more likely to get a heart attack or stroke. (The studies say that’s so for blood pressure higher than 160 over 100 and somewhat the case for over 140 over 90 but not over 160 over 100.)
People who drink cocoa with no milk or eat dark chocolate also are less likely to have strokes and less likely to die if they have one. And, they are also less likely to have a heart attack or die if they have one. That's in addition to any lowering of their blood pressure.
In fact, a study showing this is so for protection from strokes and dying from them was just in the online health news in the last day or so.
One millionaire in fact who heard that people who have eaten chocolate within the previous week are significantly more likely to survive if they have a heart attack said he now eats dark chocolate as a small desert almost 7 days a week.
Second, being too fat, obesity, is a reliable cause of high blood pressure. So one way to lower it is to lose several pounds of fat. But drinking 3 soft drinks a day tends to add 45 pounds of fat to the people who do it. Losing 45 pounds of fat can cut your blood pressure by 22 points. That's as much as a good, two drug, combination at doses that give some people side effects.
So, what do you recommend to people who insist on a drink that helps them feel good once you've told them that the soft drinks are killing them with obesity and high blood pressure they otherwise would not have?
One good answer is to have them drink hot cocoa or eat occasional treats of dark chocolate.
The hot unsweetened cocoa with no milk or sugar added is better for getting and staying free of excess fat while the dark chocolate is more of a treat and may have more of the flavonols thought to be the protective part of chocolate.
My own solution is to have one quarter of a small Hershey’s dark chocolate bar four days a week and have cocoa on Saturday and on Sunday.
That way I only have 21 calories from sugar each week. But I get very regular doses of chocolate.
I’ve not gotten my blood pressure down to 110 over 70. But it may be somewhat lower than it otherwise would have been. And of more importance, I’ve added considerably to my protection from heart attacks and strokes and from dying of either one.
Like me, you may not have time to fix 5 cups of cocoa a day or be able to do so at work.
But, as you can see, you CAN make use of this information and gain health and life protection from doing so.
Labels: avoid dying from a heart attack, avoid dying from strokes, cocoa as a health food, dark chocolate as a health food, Ghirardelli's unsweetened cocoa, prevent heart attacks, prevent strokes
posted by David at 2:21 PM
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