Why cacao lowers blood pressure

Juliet Capulet thought she was onto something when she said, “What’s in a name? That which we call a rose by any other name would smell as sweet”. Ms Capulet may well be correct when it comes to horticulture but she is overlooking some nuances of language when it comes to chocolate. In the popular media in particular chocolate is synonymous with cocoa and in the less informed outlets they even bundle cacao in there (should it get past spell-check). In reality though cacao is a very different beast from chocolate and even from cocoa, and the difference is more than in the name because there are substances in cacao that rarely make it through to chocolate and according to a new study some of those substances can lower your blood pressure.

So let’s first of all distinguish our cacao from our chocolate. The cacao bean is the source of both cacao and cocoa powders. Cacao beans are found inside the fruit of the Theobroma cacao tree in fleshy, oval-shaped pods. When you see cacao nibs, powdered cacao (or cacao powder) in the Grocery stores, the bean is in its raw state uncooked, additive free, and unprocessed. When cacao beans are roasted and processed they are called “cocoa”. Most cocoa powders have additives like sweeteners or cocoa butter. Once roasted and processed (turning cacao to cocoa), the beans lose much of their nutritional benefits. Natural unsweetened cocoa powder is very similar to raw cacao powder except for experiencing higher temperatures during production, which decreases antioxidant activity. Chocolate is made using varying degrees of either cacao or cocoa depending on the manufacturer’s choice.

In reality though cacao is a very different beast from chocolate and even from cocoa, and the difference is more than in the name because there are substances in cacao that rarely make it through to chocolate.

So cacao is the basis of all these three but the processing means that the ingredients in cacao can be changed quite a lot by the time they get to chocolate or even cocoa. One of the most commonly talked about ingredients in cacao are the flavanols and a new study has shown that these flavanols can lower your blood pressure.

The new research actually involved two studies. The first study involved two groups of men, one under age 35 and the other aged between 50 and 80 years of age, who drank either a cacao flavanol containing drink or a placebo twice a day for four weeks. The researchers looked at measures of cardiovascular aging and found that dilation of arteries (a sign of improved blood vessel function) was observed in those who had the flavanol drink (improved by 33 per cent in the younger group and 32 per cent in the older group). In the older group there was also a drop of 4 points in systolic blood pressure in response to flavanols.

In the second study subjects were men and women aged 35-60. Again the subjects either had a flavanol-drink or a placebo twice a day for four weeks. Again the flavanols increased vasodilation by around 21 per cent and decreased systolic blood pressure by around 4 points and diastolic blood pressure by around 3 points. Bad LDL cholesterol was also decreased by 0.17 mmol/litre and good HDL cholesterol was increased by 0.1 mmol/litre. The researchers say this translates to a decreased heart attack of 31 per cent and a 22 per cent reduction in cardiovascular disease risk.

Cacao and its flavanols certainly seem to be good for your heart but alas, chocolate with all its additives and processing, may not be so sweet.