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What's good for you? Chocolate and wine

Updated: 2007-07-05 06:55








One piece at a time: Doctors believe chocolate is good for you... but
only in small doses.File

After years of being told to eat our greens and that an apple a day keeps
the doctor away, some good news has finally arrived for gluttons.

European doctors have uncovered evidence that both wine and chocolate
have unexpected health benefits.

An Italian study, published in the American Journal of Agricultural and
Food Chemistry, found that a regular glass of wine - either red or white
- can help put off tooth decay and gum disease, and heal sore throats.

Italian scientists, tested bottles of supermarket Valpolicella and Pinot
Nero wine, finding the drink has ingredients that can kill bacteria.

Professor Gabriella Gazzani said wine's antibacterial properties were
well-known thousands of years ago.

"Although well-known by the ancient Romans, have been little
investigated" in recent times, she told Britain's Daily Mail.

"Overall, our findings seem to indicate that wine can act as an effective
anti-microbial agent against streptococci bacteria and upper respiratory
tract infections," she said, warning however that no matter how tempting
the possibility, wine shouldn't be used as an alternative to toothpaste.

"We should still drink wine because it tastes good, goes well with food
and is a pleasure to share with company," she said. "And we should still
brush and floss our teeth the accepted way."

Meanwhile there was good and bad news for chocoholics: Dark chocolate
seems to lower blood pressure, but it requires barely a mouthful to do
it, according to German researchers.

The latest study to look into chocolate's much heralded health benefits
added to mounting evidence that cocoa-rich chocolate is good for you. But
it found that only a tiny amount is enough.

Volunteers for the study, the results of which were published in
yesterday's edition of the Journal of the American Medical Association,
ate just over 6 grams of dark chocolate daily for almost five months -
one square from a German chocolate bar called Ritter Sport - equal to
about 1 1/2 Hershey's Kisses or perhaps a single square from a bar of
Cadbury's Bournville.

People who ate the dark stuff ended up with lower blood pressure readings
than those who ate white chocolate.

University of Cologne researcher Dr Dirk Taubert, the study's lead
author, said the blood pressure reductions with dark chocolate were small
but still substantial enough to potentially reduce cardiovascular disease
risks, although study volunteers weren't followed long enough to measure
that effect.

The research involved just 44 people aged 56 through 73, but the results
echo other small studies of cocoa-containing foods.

The results are interesting but need to be duplicated in larger, more
diverse populations, said Dr Laura Svetkey, of Duke University's
Hypertension Center. She stressed that the study results should not be
viewed as license to gorge on chocolate.

"I would be as happy as the next person if I got to eat more chocolate,"
she said, but cautioned that weight gain from eating large amounts of
dark chocolate would counteract any benefits on blood pressure.

China Daily


(China Daily 07/05/2007 page9)
















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