Wine chemist discovers sweet news
Chocolate may be the despair of dieters, but it also contains a class of chemicals
that might help lower the risk of heart disease, according to researchers at
the University of California at Davis.
Wine chemist Andrew Waterhouse and his colleagues have long studied the possible
health benefits of compounds called phenolics. These chemicals are abundant
in red wine and are believed to help prevent so-called "bad" cholesterol
from clogging coronary arteries with fatty substances known as plaque.
In a issue of the medical journal Lancet, the UC Davis group suggests that the
phenolics in chocolate might be beneficial, despite the fact that the candy
is high in fats, sugar and caffeine.
Although cholesterol is found in animal fats, it is also made by the body and
is needed to help build cell walls as well as many hormones.
But before cholesterol can be transported through the bloodstream, it must be
combined with fats and proteins into particles called lipoprotein. Low-density
lipoprotein, or LDL, are known as the "bad" cholesterol, and they
are the artery-blockers. The "good" high density lipoprotein, or HDL,
are believed to scavenge excess cholesterol from the bloodstream and carry it
to the liver for excretion.
Phenolics, according to current thinking, are among several compounds in foods
that prevent oxygen from combining with low-density lipoproteins a process called
oxidation. This minimizes the ability of LDL to damage artery walls and contribute
to the buildup of plaque.
In their laboratory experiments with extracts of cocoa powder, Waterhouse and
his colleagues found that the phenols in cocoa strongly inhibited the oxidation
of low-density lipoprotein taken from samples of human blood.
But whether the same phenols from various forms of chocolate would have the
same effect in the human body remains unknown, Waterhouse said.
The researchers estimate that an ounce and a half of milk chocolate contains
205 milligrams of phenolics, while a cup of hot chocolate has 148 milligrams.
By comparison a typical glass of red wine contains about 210 milligrams of phenolics,
Waterhouse says.
"We certainly aren't suggesting that people start eating chocolate to prevent
coronary heart disease," Waterhouse said. 'The results of this study simply
indicate that if dietary phenolics do act as antioxidants in the body, then
chocolate would he a good source of those antioxidants."