Chocolate May Improve Health of Smokers' Arteries

Chocolate May Improve Health of Smokers' Arteries

Dec. 20 (Bloomberg) -- Dark chocolate may have a positive effect on male smokers' arteries and help protect against cardiovascular disease, a study in the journal Heart found.

Smokers were chosen as subjects because the habit is thought to promote heart disease by damaging the endothelium, the layer of cells that line blood vessels, and by promoting blood clots. The consumption of dark chocolate seemed to promote arterial health by improving endothelial function and decreasing activity that may lead to clots, the study found.

``Only a small daily treat of dark chocolate may substantially increase the amount of antioxidant intake and beneficially effect vascular health,'' researchers at the Cardiovascular Center at the University Hospital in Zurich, Switzerland, said in the study. White chocolate had no effect, the researchers said.

Twenty-five male smokers were enrolled in the study and didn't take any medication, vitamins or dietary supplements, during the course of the trial.

http://www.bloomberg.com/apps/news?pid=10000085&sid=axxKYQYLwFY4&refer=europe

so I can justify all the chocolate I eat! :silly:

I might give them a whirl, or maybe sprinkle cocoa powder through the tobacco.
I'm cuckoo for cocoa-puffs!! :silly:

i think 25 is an awfully small group to draw any real conclusions, but wouldn't it be nice if chocolate really was the cure for everything?

Eating a small daily amount of chocolate plus some wine, tea and good foods may explain why my elderly smoker Dad is still alive and free from cancer, heart ailments or mental problems.
But he can't get enough oxygen to do anything even mildly strenuous or walk more than a few steps without exhaustion and has frequent bouts of bronchitis and pneumonia.

A couple of weeks ago when I told him I was staying away from chocolate over the holidays this year to keep off the pounds he told me that chocolate was good for me! He is apparently right but unfortunately I can't stop at just a couple of ounces.

Chronic Obstructive Lung Disease, a combination of emphysema, bronchitis and asthma. My Mom has this. She was a heavy smoker years ago.

My Dad died just last week of lung cancer (he was diagnosed last August with stage 4 large cell carcinoma after dizzy spells led to the discovery of a tumer in his cerebellum). He was also a heavy smoker, for 27 years. He quit 27 years ago but alas a lot of lung cancer happens in former smokers. He ate plenty of chocolate. Didn't seem to help him.

COPD is what got me. The strange thing is that I smoked for years, but my mother, who lived in an almost tobacco free home came down with COPD at a younger age than I did, and more severe.
About 12 years ago, I got bit on the temple by a Brown Recluse spider. The secondary infection spread to my inner ear, then to my lungs. I went from being able to ride my bike with ease to fighting for breath in the space of a week.
I read somewhere that vitamin D can help, I started 1600 IU of it a day, maybe it will help.
Happy New Year, all!

My Mom has had fibromyalgia (a form of chronic fatigue syndrome characterized by muscle pain) for many years. She thinks she got it after an auto accident that left her pretty banged-up (but without serious injuries). But she also suspects she has had (undiagnosed) Lyme disease; she recalls being bit by a "funny little spider" which she realizes may have been a deer tick -- she recalls having a bulls-eye rash. This was long before Lyme disease came to public attention. I have read that fibromyalgia is a common consequence of Lyme disease, if it isn't treated in time. Your post makes me wonder if her respiratory problems might be tied to Lyme or some other infectious agent. She's been on various antibiotics, these have helped her. (She had a persistent sinus infection that resolved only after the doctors actually cultured it. She suffered from this for a year, until the correct antibiotic was prescribed; it resolved quickly after that.)

This points to an interesting, still speculative theory about certain diseases, including heart disease, Alzheimer's, and some cancers: that they're caused by still-unidentified infectious agents. This theory is being pursued by Paul Ewald, a researcher at the University of Louisville.

Best wishes for your health.

I've been bitten by a couple of pygmy rattlesnakes, that damned spider was a lot worse.
Over the years, I lost count of how many ticks I've pulled off, but never had the bulls eye rash, unless it was somewhere behind me, and I couldn't see it!:-)
I've given up on doctors, I just won't spend the rest of my life sitting in the waiting room at the county clinic. I've got things I want to do!

3 days ago, I picked up a bottle of Walmart, "Spring Valley", vitamin D. I have been overdosing my ass on them, too soon to tell, but, I really do, so far, feel like my lungs are working better.
Really, folks, I am breathing better than I can remember, for a long time!

clinical paper showing the unbelievable fact that just four (4) mg of pycnogenol (pine bark extract) in a cigarette filter reduced IN VIVO cellular damage by said amount. AMAZING, and pycnongenol and its cousin grape seed extract area available just about EVERYWHERE.

1: Toxicol Ind Health. 2002 Jun;18(5):215-24. Related Articles, Links


Pycnogenol in cigarette filters scavenges free radicals and reduces mutagenicity and toxicity of tobacco smoke in vivo.

Zhang D, Tao Y, Gao J, Zhang C, Wan S, Chen Y, Huang X, Sun X, Duan S, Schonlau F, Rohdewald P, Zhao B.

Institute of Biophysics, Academia Sinica, 15 Datun Road, Chaoyang District, Beijing 100101, PR China.

Despite large-scale anti-smoking campaigns throughout the world, the number of smokers remains high and cigarette smoking continues to represent a life-threatening health risk. Until a smoke-free society is achieved, reduction of cigarette smoke toxins may reduce the health burden. Current cigarette filter techniques are limited to the reduction of volatile tar constituents by dilution and by condensation on the filter surface. Vast quantities of harmful constituents, such as polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons, heterocyclic (aromatic) amines, free radicals and reactive oxygen species, are inefficiently retained in the filter. We investigated whether neutralisation of free radicals in cigarette filters is feasible and accompanied by a reduction in smoke toxicity. Addition of the bioflavonoid pine bark extract Pycnogenol to cigarette filters depleted free radicals in a dose dependent manner. This was paralleled by a reduction of toxicity and mutagenicity in rodent test models. In this model system, the acute toxicity of cigarette smoke was markedly reduced by up to 70% in rodents with 0.4 mg Pycnogenol in filters. Chronic exposure to cigarette smoke for 75 days revealed that Pycnogenol filters significantly reduced mutagenicity by up to 48% and decreased pathological changes in lung tissue.

PMID: 14653310