Xylitol Risks

Americans love chocolate. In fact, millions of us are admitted "chocoholics." chocolate consumption in the United States is approximately 3.3 billion pounds per year, according to National Confectioners Association. That's almost 12 pounds for every man, woman and child in the nation.

But for more than 21 million Americans with diabetes, prohibits trafficking - such as the succulent dark chocolate truffles - are not part of a healthy diet. Many of us believe that the sweet indulgences indulgence must be unhealthy, especially for diabetics. Or are they?

The good news is that recent clinical studies show certain types of chocolates is good for your health. dark chocolates, especially those with minimal processing, are rich in flavonoids, which are plant compounds with potent antioxidant properties. Antioxidants are known to eat up free radicals - compounds that interfere with the killer cell membrane damage the heart, attack DNA, causing aging, and to heart attacks and cancer more likely.

It may surprise you to know that dark chocolate has more antioxidants per gram than red wine, green tea, peanuts, cranberries, apples and other fruits and vegetables that are rich in antioxidants.

An independent study conducted by Claudio Ferri and researchers at the University of L'Aquila in Italy found that consuming dark chocolate not only lowers blood pressure and cholesterol, as some studies have suggested before, but also improves the processing Body of sugar - and in theory, guards against diabetes. Jeffrey B. Blumberg Tufts University, who collaborated on the study, says that "new research suggests that specific flavonoids have beneficial effects on several measures of health."

Dark chocolate contains more flavonoids and less saturated fat than milk chocolate. Cocoa powder and baking chocolate contain flavonoids, more than dark chocolate, while white chocolate has none. The flavonoid chocolate, incidentally, are called flavanols.

Ferri and his colleagues have included dark chocolate bars in the diets of 10 volunteers with high blood pressure and gave 10 other white chocolate bars without flavanols. The subjects were not obese, and none gained a significant amount of weight during the study of five weeks. The volunteers who consumed dark chocolate bars reduced both systolic and diastolic blood pressure, while those given white chocolate has not changed.

In addition, the group of dark chocolate showed accelerated metabolism of blood sugar (glucose), a process that involves the hormone insulin. function of the impaired insulin can lead to diabetes. Dark chocolate also lowered cholesterol levels in hypertensive patients, the researchers reported.

additional benefits associated with dark chocolate in other studies include improved flexibility of the arteries, which can help lower blood pressure and reduces the adhesion of blood platelets clot formation, which may reduce the risk of accidents stroke and other problems.

Another study at the University Hospital of Cologne, Germany, tested the effects of dark chocolate vs white chocolate on the hardening of the arteries and heart disease among smokers. The study authors concluded that "... only a small daily treat of dark chocolate may substantially increase the amount of antioxidant intake and a beneficial effect on vascular health."

Another study at the University Hospital of Cologne and published in July 2007 in the Journal of American Medical Association (JAMA) found that eating small amounts of dark chocolate was "associated with lower blood pressure, without weight gain or other adverse effects. "

"Chocolate is a remarkable substance with enormously beneficial health properties," said Keith Scott-Mumby, MD, PhD, an internationally reco.