Chocolate Is a Powerful ex Vivo and in Vivo Antioxidant, an Antiatherosclerotic Agent in an Animal Model, and a Significant Contributor to Antioxidants in the European and American Diets

Abstract

Chocolate today is often viewed as a food or snack with little nutritional value. The high saturated fat content of chocolate has also contributed to the belief that its consumption increases the risk of heart disease. However, recent human studies have proven that chocolate has beneficial effects on some pathogenic mechanisms of heart disease such as endothelial function and blood pressure. Although the antioxidant properties of chocolate have been known for some time, there has been no examination of its place in the U.S. diet as a source of antioxidants. This paper demonstrates that chocolate makes a significant contribution to U.S. per capita dietary antioxidants and by inference the European Community's. In the U.S. diet chocolate is the third highest daily per capita antioxidant source. An ex vivo study shows that epicatechin, a major polyphenol in chocolate and chocolate extracts, is a powerful inhibitor of plasma lipid oxidation due to polyphenols' ability to bind to lower density lipoproteins. Conversely, the fat from chocolate alone is a pro-oxidant in this model. This is also demonstrated in an in vivo human study. After consumption of dark chocolate and cocoa powder, the lower density lipoproteins isolated from plasma were protected from oxidation compared to the lipoproteins isolated after cocoa butter consumption, which were put under oxidative stress. In an animal model of atherosclerosis, cocoa powder at a human dose equivalent of two dark chocolate bars per day significantly inhibited atherosclerosis, lowered cholesterol, low-density lipoprotein, and triglycerides, raised high-density lipoprotein, and protected the lower density lipoproteins from oxidation. Chocolate has thus been shown to have potential beneficial effects with respect to heart disease.

Plant-Derived Agents with Anti-Glycation Activity

“…Polyphenols are the most abundant dietary antioxidants, being common constituents of fruits, vegetables, cereals, seeds, nuts, chocolate, and beverages, such as coffee, tea, and wine. They have been shown to lead to many health benefits, such as prevention of cancer [66], neurodegenerative diseases [67], cardiovascular diseases [68] and diabetes [69].…”

Identification of phenolic compounds in polyphenols-rich extract of Malaysian cocoa powder using the HPLC-UV-ESI—MS/MS and probing their antioxidant properties

“…Recent study has revealed that cocoa contains more phenolic substances and a higher antioxidant capacity than tea and red wine (Lee et al 2003). Furthermore, previous studies indicate that cocoa powder extract and polyphenols prolong the lag time of LDL oxidation (Vinson et al 2006;Osakabe et al 2002). Oxidative stress is often defined as an intracellular redox imbalance between pro-oxidants and antioxidants (Gulcin et al 2002(Gulcin et al , 2003.…”

Harnessing the health benefits of plant biodiversity originating from the American tropics in the diet

“…The camu-camu, Myrciaria dubia, is treated in its area of origin, the Amazon, as a natural source of vitamin C for the formulation of dietetic foods [39]. Cocoa (Theobroma cacao) [40] is renowned for its antioxidant content (phenols and tannins); capsicums (Capsicum sp.) are also known for their relative richness in vitamin C [21].…”

“…Research and study work into the composition of familiar resources such as the tomato [43,44], sweet potato [45,46] or chocolate [40], and less well-known species, such as the acai [36,37], acerola [38] or the camu-camu [39], are beginning to reveal a useful potential for safeguarding consumer health, to be investigated in the rich biodiversity of the American tropics.…”