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Brief Communications

Nature 424, 1013 (28 August 2003) | doi:10.1038/4241013a

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Plasma antioxidants from chocolate

Mauro Serafini1, Rossana Bugianesi1, Giuseppe Maiani1, Silvia Valtuena1, Simone De Santis1 & Alan Crozier2

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Dark chocolate may offer its consumers health benefits the milk variety cannot match.

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There is some speculation that dietary flavonoids from chocolate, in particular (-)epicatechin, may promote cardiovascular health as a result of direct antioxidant effects or through antithrombotic mechanisms1, 2, 3. Here we show that consumption of plain, dark chocolate (Fig. 1) results in an increase in both the total antioxidant capacity and the (-)epicatechin content of blood plasma, but that these effects are markedly reduced when the chocolate is consumed with milk or if milk is incorporated as milk chocolate. Our findings indicate that milk may interfere with the absorption of antioxidants from chocolate in vivo and may therefore negate the potential health benefits that can be derived from eating moderate amounts of dark chocolate.

Figure 1: Stack of benefits?
Figure 1 : Stack of benefits? Unfortunately we are unable to provide accessible alternative text for this. If you require assistance to access this image, or to obtain a text description, please contact npg@nature.com

Unlike its milky counterpart, dark chocolate may provide more than just a treat for the tastebuds.

High resolution image and legend (62K)