Home
Chocolates
Why is Chocolate Healthy?, Part 2 Print E-mail


The Panama Paradox

Antioxidants may not be the only heart-healthy compounds in chocolate. You've heard of the French Paradox, right? The fact that the French eat more saturated fat than do Americans but have much lower rates of heart disease? The paradox is that saturated fat is supposed to clog the arteries. The answer? The polyphenols in all that red wine the French drink help to protect their arteries against the damaging effects of all that fat.

Now, let's talk about the Panama Paradox. On a group of islands off the coast of Panama dwell the Kuna people. This indigenous group eats a traditional diet high in salt, yet they have extremely low blood pressure. As did their Central American ancestors, the Kuna drink about five cups of chocolate a day. Could the chocolate be responsible for their low blood pressure? It seemed possible, because blood pressure rose in the Kuna who moved to urban Panama City and stopped consuming their traditional diet.

To test chocolate's role in this, Norman Hollenberg, professor of medicine at Harvard University, fed Boston volunteers either typical commercial milk chocolate or dark chocolate bars. Those who consumed the dark chocolate at levels equivalent to the cocoa intake of
Read more...
 
Discuss this item on the forums. (0 posts)
More Articles...
<< Start < Prev 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 Next > End >>

Page 1 of 9