This has nothing to do with Valentine's Day.
It has to do with my blood pressure, which (despite my diet, exercise, and zen-like serenity) is stubbornly parked on the hypertension borderline.
I remembered seeing a study in JAMA that suggested that chocolate might lower blood pressure, so I went back and looked it up:
Effects of Low Habitual Cocoa Intake on Blood Pressure and Bioactive Nitric Oxide
There are some intriguing aspects to this, like the fact that the participants ate what Victor called "otc" chocolate...Ritter Sport Halbbitter, in this case, instead of some 80% cocoa powder weighed out in a lab. (Halbbitter is 50% cocoa. I've seen lots of articles that suggest you need at least 70% cocoa to get the health benefits from the phenolic compounds. That reminds me of baking chocolate. I have a baking chocolate story; I'll tell it sometime.)
Also, the "dose" was only 6.3 grams a day, which is one little square. In one way, I wouldn't mind eating an entire Ritter Sport a day (I'm particularly fond of the hazelnut & raisin), but I'd have to spend more time on the treadmill. 6.3 grams is only 30 calories; I'm not going to worry about that.
And in the end
From baseline to 18 weeks, dark chocolate intake reduced mean (SD) systolic BP by –2.9 (1.6) mm Hg (P < .001) and diastolic BP by –1.9 (1.0) mm Hg (P < .001) without changes in body weight, plasma levels of lipids, glucose, and 8-isoprostane.
If I can stop eating cheeseburgers and start eating broccoli, if I can stop drinking Dr. Pepper and start drinking tea, I think I can find a way to train myself to eat a square of chocolate every night.
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