Dark Chocolate and Healthy Heart

BOSTON (February 17, 2002 9:04 a.m. EST) - There's more evidence that cocoa rich in cholesterol-battling antioxidants helps ward off some of the factors associated with heart attacks and stroke, scientists lecturing here Friday during the annual meeting of the American Association for the Advancement of Science said.

The antioxidants in chocolate are called flavonoids, potent plant compounds also found in tea, red wine and some fruits and vegetables. Studies show that flavonoids slow the processing of "bad" LDL cholesterol into material that clogs the arteries, and at the same time make blood platelets less likely to clump and cause clots.

"What we're finding, though, is that all flavenoids are not created equal. There are some foods that are richer in them, and seem to be more biologically active, and cocoa is right up there," said Carl Keen, chairman of the nutrition department at the University of California-Davis.

Keen compared the reactions of platelets to a flavanol-rich cocoa drink and a blood-thinning, 81-milligram dose of aspirin, and found similar reactions in a group of 20- to 40-year-olds.

"What we don't know is just what the dose-effect of this might be over a longer period of time," Keen said. "We have some research that shows eating foods high in flavanols is good for the arteries, but we don't yet know what the minimum amount is you can consume to have the effect you want, or what happens if you consume at these levels for weeks or months."

Another chocolate researcher, Dr. Norman Hollenberg of Brigham and Women's Hospital here, reported findings that flavanols may be associated with controlling another chemical that regulates the arteries, nitric oxide.

The compound is critical for healthy blood flow and pressure, Hollenberg said. "If our research results continue to support a link between consumption of flavanol-rich cocoa and nitric oxide synthesis, there could be significant implications for public health."

Both Keen and Hollenberg used a special experimental cocoa supplied by the Mars candy company that is not yet available to the public.

Dark chocolate, which is typically a bit more expensive and not quite as sweet, is richest in flavonoids because of the way it's processed. Milk chocolate, which also has added butterfat, contains fewer flavonoids, while cocoa powder and chocolate syrups are currently processed with a method that removes most of the flavonoids.

As far as the fat in dark chocolate goes, it's mostly a saturated vegetable fat that behaves in an artery-friendly way, like olive and canola oils. Hollenberg began studying the effects of cocoa as part of a high blood pressure study on members of the Kuna tribe of Panama. He noted that members of the tribe who lived on the isolated islands almost never developed hypertension as they aged, while those who moved to urban Panama City did develop age-related high blood pressure. His team learned that in their homelands, the Kuna consume large amounts of cocoa.

And it was observed that the island-dwelling Kuna had significantly higher levels of nitrite-nitrate in their blood, which helps keep pressure down.

Back in Boston, people in a study group have nitric oxide numbers pretty much like those seen in the urban-dwelling Kuna. Hollenberg's team tried having them consume either high-flavanol or low-flavanol cocoa, and saw a significant response in the nitric oxide flow over a short time.

Now the scientists are preparing for a more specific study of the active ingredient of the compounds to conclusively determine if regulating nitric oxide with flavanols has a positive impact.

Keen noted that while early studies of flavanols showed they were beneficial, "it's only been in the last few years that we've been able to isolate some of the active components of flavanols and do the biochemistry that's needed to understand the mechanisms.

"Of course, it's still possible that flavanols are greater than the sum of their parts, and that they work well in the blood precisely because they are together," Keen said.

Music Therapy

Research has shown that music has a profound effect on your body and psyche. In fact, there’s a growing field of health care known as music therapy, which uses music to heal. Those who practice music therapy are finding a benefit in using music to help cancer patients, children with ADD, and others, and even hospitals are beginning to use music and music therapy to help with pain management, to help ward off depression, to promote movement, to calm patients, to ease muscle tension, and for many other benefits that music and music therapy can bring. This is not surprising, as music affects the body and mind in many powerful ways. The following are some of effects of music, which help to explain the effectiveness of music therapy.

Using Music On Your Own:

While music therapy is an important discipline, you can also achieve many benefits from music on your own. Music can be used in daily life for relaxation, to gain energy when feeling drained, for catharsis when dealing with emotional stress, and in other ways as well. This article on music, relaxation and stress management can explain more of how music can be an especially effective tool for stress management, and can be used in daily life.

For more ways to relieve stress in daily life, subscribe to the free weekly About.com Stress Management Newsletter; you'll find research, tips, and tools that can help you to cut down on the stress you encounter in your life, and develop effective strategies to better manage the stress that you do experience. In addition, these 25 stress relievers provide a variety of ideas you can use right now, and these personality tests can tell you a little more about your style of dealing with stress, and provide you with stress relief techniques that work especially for your situation.

Colour Therapy

Although we would live, we would probably not be healthy if we lived in total darkness without any light. Light can affect our mood. Most of us feel better and more cheerful on a sunny day than on a gloomy, sunless day. Some people living in areas which do not get many sunny days in the winter develop Seasonal Affective Disorder (SAD). Studies have indicated that working the grave yard shift may be detrimental to your health. We need light to be healthy.

Even though we don't see it, the light around us contains the full spectrum of colours. Each colour has its own frequency and vibration. In some natural healing schools of thought, different colours are believed to relate to different parts of our body. You may want to read more about these energy centers, or chakras.

It is thought by some that our tissues and organs need the same energies as light. When disease or injury disturbs the vibration and energy of an organ or area of our body, applying the associated colour frequency can restore the body to health. Eastern medical practice teaches that we have meridians which carry energy through the body and connect to each organ. This is the theory behind acupuncture which attempts to remove blockages to the energy flow.

Colour is thought to do the same thing. Each colour's vibration is associated with different attributes and qualities. Light entering through our eyes may trigger the production of hormones which control the biochemical system of the body. It also can influence our emotions and well-being by supplying the frequency we need to keep our mind and body in balance. Colour does not heal. Rather, it enables the body to heal itself.