Key result
Cocoa-rich products may lower blood pressure and improve cardiovascular health via enhanced vasodilation.
Why the study?
Long-term trials are needed to determine whether daily ingestion of cocoa reduces blood pressure chronically and affects cardiovascular events.
Do cocoa-rich products reduce blood pressure and cardiovascular events?
Do cocoa-rich products reduce blood pressure and cardiovascular events?
Cocoa-rich products may have beneficial effects on blood pressure and cardiovascular health through flavanol-mediated endothelial function improvement, but long-term clinical outcome trials are lacking.
Answers are grounded in this paper and cite their sources.
Cocoa products should not yet alter BP management; extends mechanistic data but leaves open hard-endpoint confirmation in RCTs.
High blood pressure is an important risk factor for cardiovascular disease and cardiovascular events worldwide. Clinical and epidemiological studies suggest that cocoa-rich products reduce the risk of cardiovascular disease. According to this, cocoa has a high content in polyphenols, especially flavanols. Flavanols have been described to exert favorable effects on endothelium-derived vasodilation via the stimulation of nitric oxide-synthase, the increased availability of l-arginine, and the decreased degradation of NO. Cocoa may also have a beneficial effect by protecting against oxidative stress alterations and via decreased platelet aggregation, decreased lipid oxidation, and insulin resistance. These effects are associated with a decrease of blood pressure and a favorable trend toward a reduction in cardiovascular events and strokes. Previous meta-analyses have shown that cocoa-rich foods may reduce blood pressure. Long-term trials investigating the effect of cocoa products are needed to determine whether or not blood pressure is reduced on a chronic basis by daily ingestion of cocoa. Furthermore, long-term trials investigating the effect of cocoa on clinical outcomes are also needed to assess whether cocoa has an effect on cardiovascular events. A 3 mmHg systolic blood pressure reduction has been estimated to decrease the risk of cardiovascular and all-cause mortality. This paper summarizes new findings concerning cocoa effects on blood pressure and cardiovascular health, focusing on putative mechanisms of action and "nutraceutical " viewpoints.
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Ferri et al. (2015) conducted a review in High blood pressure and cardiovascular disease. Cocoa was evaluated. Cocoa-rich products may reduce blood pressure and improve cardiovascular health via improved vasodilation and decreased oxidative stress, though long-term clinical trials are still needed.
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