IT SOUNDS like the dream scientific experiment – sit back, eat chocolate and maybe even help your heart at the same time.
Researchers in Aberdeen want to recruit a group of healthy volunteers to see whether the cocoa compounds found in dark chocolate could help protect against heart disease.
The participants will be given bars of chocolate to eat and then have tests
to see how their body reacts to the sugary substance.
But experts warned the study should not be seen as a green light for others to start scoffing vast amounts of the confectionery to boost their heart health – the high sugar and fat content puts a stop to that.
Cardiovascular diseases – conditions that affect the heart and circulatory system – are the main cause of death in the UK, causing more than one in three deaths overall.
Cocoa compounds have previously been suspected to have certain qualities that might help protect the heart from disease.
Now researchers want to see how compounds called flavonoids, found naturally in foods including cocoa, might help fend off heart diseases because of what they do in the blood.
Dr Baukje de Roos, principal investigator from the University of Aberdeen Rowett Institute of Nutrition and Health, said: "A main characteristic of cardiovascular disease is impaired blood flow and the formation of blood clots.
"Platelets play a key role in our blood preventing bleeding if we have suffered a cut or a wound. But in disease conditions platelets can go into overdrive and stick together forming blood clots and blocking blood vessels.
"We already know that flavonoids can stop platelets from sticking together, but we don't know how they do this.
"Our study will help us understand how these flavonoids may benefit blood platelets and, in turn, help protect against cardiovascular diseases such as heart disease and stroke."
The research team is looking to recruit 40 volunteers aged 18 to 70.
They will be asked to eat three small bars of chocolate, in total amounting to around 60g, of either a specially made bar of cocoa-rich dark chocolate, standard milk chocolate or white chocolate. All the volunteers will have to visit the institute three times, on each occasion having a different type of chocolate.
The scientists will then take blood and urine samples after two hours and again after six hours to assess the impact the compounds in the cocoa have on how the blood functions.
Fellow researcher Luisa Ostertag said: "Perhaps studies like ours could ultimately lead to these special compounds being included in healthier foods or in health supplements."
