HEART AND CHOCOLATE

   A piece of dark chocolate a day -- a very small piece -- keeps the doctor away.


An Italian study shows that dark chocolate can significantly reduce the inflammation that leads to cardiovascular disease. The ideal amount is 6.7 grams per day (0.23 ounces). A typical Hershey chocolate bar weighs about 43 grams. That means eating one dark chocolate bar over the course of 6 1/2 days to get 6.7 grams per day.

Milk chocolate doesn't appear to offer the same benefits.

The study was conducted by Research Laboratories of the Catholic University in Campobasso and the National Cancer Institute of Milan and has been published in the Journal of Nutrition. The data come from an epidemiological study called the Moli-sani Project, which selected men and women at least 35 years old randomly from city hall registries in southern Italy.

For the chocolate study, researchers identified 4,849 people in good health without risk factors for cardiovascular disease, such as high cholesterol and high blood pressure. These participants were asked about their dark chocolate consumption.

Chronic inflammation can lead to heart disease, so keeping inflammation under control is a major part of preventive treatment. Research has shown that patients who have a low amount of C-reactive protein in their blood have lower levels of inflammation. People who eat dark chocolate regularly, in small servings, have significantly lower levels of C reactive protein, according to the study. This holds true even after accounting for any other potential confounding factors (such as differences in other dietary practices).

So ladies, you can now occasionally gorge on chocolate without a sense of guilt, for a study says that eating small amounts of the sweet snack can help protect women from heart failure.


However consuming chocolate every day can eliminate its positive benefits, says the study.

Lead researcher Dr Murray Mittleman of Harvard Medical School said: "You can't ignore that chocolate is a relatively calorie-dense food and large amounts of habitual consumption is going to raise your risks for weight gain.

"But if you're going to have a treat, dark chocolate is probably a good choice, as long as it's in moderation."

In fact in the nine-year study, conducted among 31,823 Swedish women, researchers looked at the relationship between the amount of high-quality dark chocolate eaten and the risk of heart failure.

The researchers found that women who ate an average of one to two servings of the high-quality chocolate per week had a 32 per cent lower risk of developing heart failure, British newspaper 'The Daily Telegraph' reported.

Those who had one to three servings per month had a 26 per cent lower risk, but those who ate at least one serving daily or more didn't seem to benefit from a protective effect against heart failure.

Dr Mittleman said the lack of a protective effect among women eating chocolate every day was probably due to the additional calories gained from eating chocolate instead of more nutritious foods.


High concentration of compounds called 'flavonoids' in chocolate may lower blood pressure, among other benefits, according to mostly short-term studies.

However, this is the first study to show long-term outcomes related specifically to heart failure, which can result from ongoing untreated high blood pressure, say the researchers.

 

CALCIUM CONTENT IN CORN

A simple sweet corn can be so nutritious

Sweet corn, also known as corn which contains a lot of nutrition and health care properties, in addition to carbohydrate, protein, fat, carotene, and also contains riboflavin etc.

The experts of the corn, rice, wheat and other staple foods were the role of nutritional value and health indicators contrast, found that the vitamin content of corn is very high, for rice, wheat, 5-10 times, while the special The nutritional value of corn was higher than normal corn. Sweet corn protein, vegetable oil, and vitamin content 1-2 times higher than conventional maize, "life element" selenium content was 8-10 times higher, the contains 17 amino acids, there are 13 species of higher than ordinary corn.

Scientists believe that, from a health point of view, people are eating corn oil, peanut oil and other edible vegetable oils than the benefits to be great. Very coarse cornmeal at the mill contains large amounts of leucine and glutathione, can inhibit the anti-cancer drugs on the human body side-effects, but also inhibit tumor growth. Because glutathione can be locked, like chains, like the growth of cancer-causing substances to lose their toxicity, the end of its body.

Eat corn, a variety of diabetes prevention with anti-cancer effect

Corn contained in the longevity factor of glutathione, in the participation of selenium to generate glutathione oxidase, with a resumption of youth, anti-aging functions. Is the anti-cancer factor, it can combine with other substances so that loss of carcinogenicity. Corn contained in carotene, can be absorbed by the body into vitamin A, also has anti-cancer effect; maize plants contained more cellulose, there are Runchang catharsis of power, can accelerate the cancer-causing substances and other toxic discharges, thereby reducing the likelihood of colon cancer.

Corn is rich in unsaturated fatty acids, especially linoleic acid content as high as 60%, and it and the corn germ in the synergy of vitamin E can reduce blood cholesterol levels and prevent its deposition in the vessel wall. Thus, corn on the coronary heart disease, atherosclerosis, hyperlipidemia, and hypertension have a certain role in the prevention and treatment. Vitamin E can also promote human cell division, anti-aging. Rich in calcium, phosphorus, magnesium, iron, selenium and so on, and vitamins A, B1, B2, B6, E and carotene, etc., for cholecystitis, gallstones, jaundice, hepatitis and diabetes, there is the role of adjuvant therapy.

Scientific testing confirmed that every 100 grams of corn can provide nearly 300 milligrams of calcium, which is almost similar calcium contained in dairy products. Rich in calcium can play the effect of lowering blood pressure. If the daily intake of 1 g of calcium, 6 weeks after the blood pressure can reduce the 9%. Plant cellulose can accelerate carcinogens and other poisons to leach out; natural vitamin E, there to promote cell division, anti-aging, skin lesions to prevent the function, but also to reduce atherosclerosis and brain function decline. Corn contains lutein, zeaxanthin can counter the aging eye, stimulate the brain cells, enhancing people's brain power and memory.

U.S. researchers in the study also found that regular consumption of corn bran and corn oil are very helpful in reducing cholesterol. They had an average age of 55 choices, 70 elderly people, including 50 men and 20 women, these people have higher cholesterol levels, and the hospitalization time in two years but the effect is not ideal.
These people accept the test, the researchers put through the fine grinded maize research, and accompanied by garlic powder, black pepper, celery and other condiments, soup with tomatoes, or reconciled into food, one and a half before the trial to eat 20 grams per person per day, After one and a half to eat 40 grams per person per day, three months later upon inspection, found that 70 individuals had blood levels of triglycerides decreased, there are 60 individuals to reduce cholesterol.