Dark Chocolate Lowers Inflammation, Cholesterol, Blood Pressure

The media always enjoys writing funny, punny or even sunny headlines about the latest chocolate-for-health studies. Yet a recent Italy study about the benefits of eating dark chocolate suggests taking the cocoa plant quite seriously because it appears to be capable of lowering inflammation in the body. Inflammation has been increasingly associated with heart disease by constricting circulation in the blood vessels. The Italian researchers showed that dark chocolate can lower C-reactive protein in the blood. C-reactive protein or CRP is an accepted biomarker of heart disease and hypertension. Dark chocolate appears to contain several antioxidant substances called polyphenol and flavanols that disrupt the production of CRP. That’s a delicious thought.

What we all want to know is how much is enough or too much? The Italian study suggests one small square daily or half a 100-gram bar per week is therapeutic. You want to look for at least 70 percent cocoa in the dark chocolate you buy. For the record, food scientists say that milk chocolate is not similarly healthy for the blood lipids or blood pressure because it has less cocoa percent and milk appears to interfere with the body’s absorption of chocolate’s polyphenols.

The Italian scientists evaluated more than 4,800 adults who are 35 and older. About 20 percent were regular eaters of dark chocolate over the last year, and those dark chocolate lovers averaged 5.7 grams per day. The dark chocolate eaters averaged CRP levels that were significantly lower than non-chocolate eaters. In fact, the researchers said the levels moved dark chocolate eaters to the “mild” risk category for heart disease while the non-eaters were classifed as being at “moderate” risk.

Notably, the individuals who ate dark chocolate regularly were evaluated by the researchers as following healthier diets than others. But even when the researchers controlled for this factor, the CRP difference remained.

All pretty sweet news, except for one caution. While the Italian researchers determined that eating a bit larger portion of dark chocolate every three days (20 grams or one fifth of that 100-gram bar) rather small amounts daily was just as successful in producing an anti-inflammatory result, they also determined that eating more chocolate erased the health advantage. The study concluded that eating too much chocolate—even dark chocolate with 70-percent cocoa—tended to make heart disease protection “disappear.”

Bob Condor blogs for Insider's Health every Monday, Tuesday, Thursday, Friday and Saturday.