“Not only will you be Romantic, but you’ll be doing your significant other a lot of good by buying them a glass of wine and a cube of dark chocolate.”

Dr. Basil Margolis Saint Joseph’s Hospital

The Heart Of The Matter

Why Dark Chocolate And Red Wine Aren’t Just For Romance Anymore

By Amy Meadows

     Valentine’s Day is just around the corner, and romance is in the air. Hearts are everywhere you look, on greeting cards, in storefront windows, and on grocery store shelves filled with confectionary delights. But those aren’t the only hearts you should be thinking about this month. In addition to being so closely associated with Cupid and his love-laden arrows, February is National Heart Disease Awareness Month, making it an excellent time to think about what you can do to protect your, and your loved one’s, cardiovascular health. Fortunately, you don’t have to sacrifice those traditional romantic gestures on Feb. 14 to take care of your ticker. In fact, two of them in particular might even be good for you.
      Recent reports have revealed that both dark chocolate and red wine have properties that are beneficial to your heart. Of course, for decades, conventional wisdom has proclaimed sweets and alcohol are bad for your health. Yet, while that thinking typically still rings true, studies conducted at highly regarded academic and medical institutions worldwide have identified the dark version of everyone’s favorite candy treat and a vintage Cabernet Sauvignon or Merlot as the possible exceptions to the rule. Therefore, on Valentine’s Day, according to Basil Margolis, M.D., F.A.C.C., medical director of the Preventive Cardiology Program at Saint Joseph’s Hospital, “Not only will you be romantic, but you’ll be doing your significant other a lot of good by buying them a glass of wine and a cube of dark chocolate.”

How Sweet It Is
      Those who have a sweet tooth certainly will welcome the news that chocolate has healthful qualities. But it’s important to remember that the emphasis here is on dark chocolate, not the creamy milk chocolate bars that take up most of the space at checkout counters far and wide. “Dark chocolate, the really expensive kind that tastes more bitter than sweet, has been shown to have some health benefits,” asserted Pam McFarland, a registered and licensed dietician with WellStar Health System. “But the problem is that most consumers aren’t eating that kind. Most people like the kind that has been processed with added caramel, nuts, marshmallows and sugar.”
      You want to eat dark chocolate, though, because as Margolis observed, “It’s not about the chocolate. It’s what chocolate is made of — cocoa. When you eat dark chocolate, you are eating as pure a form of the cocoa bean as possible, and it’s the cocoa bean that contains all the antioxidants.” And that bean, derived from a pineapple-sized fruit that grows on the cacao tree, ubiquitously found in locales like South America and Indonesia, is what contains important antioxidants called flavonoids.
      A study conducted by Italy’s National Institute for Food and Nutrition Research confirmed that the antioxidants found in dark chocolate help neutralize free radicals in the body, a process that yields one of the greatest benefits to the heart. Free radicals, which are a naturally occurring by-product of normal metabolism, can become harmful when there are too many of them in your bloodstream and they begin to oxidize, or combine chemically with oxygen. “When the arteries block up, they become narrowed and may even go into spasm,” Margolis said. “The flavonoids prevent cholesterol from depositing and blocking the arteries and also help the arteries to relax a little so the blood flow is better.”
      In the same vein, research out of Pennsylvania State University showed that dark chocolate and cocoa powder may increase good cholesterol, or HDL, by as much as 10 percent. HDL is critical to the cardiovascular system because it helps protect against a heart attack by carrying bad cholesterol away from the heart. And the increase in good cholesterol from eating dark chocolate can be attributed to the flavonoids found in cocoa beans.
      Furthermore, Molly McCullough, a registered and licensed dietician with Northside Hospital’s Diabetes and Nutrition Education department, explained that the consumption of dark chocolate can make the arterial walls of the heart more flexible and allow for better blood flow, which ultimately leads to lower blood pressure. Again, this is associated with the flavonoids in the chocolate. As stated in a report from Dr. Norman K. Hollenberg, a professor of medicine at Harvard Medical School, the flavonoids in cocoa produce abundant nitric oxide activity. Nitric oxide is the chemical compound that dilates the arteries and increases blood flow. “When the arteries block up, they narrow and go into spasms. The flavonoids help the arteries relax a little so the blood flow is better,” Margolis maintained. That can cause your blood pressure to drop and improve your heart functioning in the long run.

While dark chocolate and red wine can do your heart good, any food or drink that’s consumed in excess can become detrimental to your health.

Grape Expectations
      Wine connoisseurs have their own cause for celebration thanks to the fact that dry red vino shares some comparable heart health properties with dark chocolate. “Red wine is also full of antioxidants because grape seeds and grape skin are concentrated sources of these healthful plant compounds,” McFarland noted. Just as in dark chocolate, the antioxidants in red wine are flavonoids, which lower LDL and raise HDL. Actually, all alcohol has been shown to improve cholesterol on some level, prompting Harvard researchers to declare moderate alcohol consumption “one of the eight proven ways to reduce coronary heart disease risk” in the early 1990s, according to an article in the
      Yale-New Haven Hospital Nutrition Advisor. At the same time, red wine goes beyond all other types of alcohol by delivering additional health benefits.
      The skin of the red grape contains resveratrol, which, in addition to improving cholesterol levels, limits the risk of a heart attack by acting as a blood thinner. “Not only does resveratrol have an antioxidant effect, but it also has an anti-platelet effect,” Margolis said. “Platelets are substances in our blood that make it clot. When you cut yourself, for example, platelets help stop the bleeding. But platelets can also make the blood clot in your arteries, and that can cause a heart attack or stroke.” The resveratrol ensures that the platelets don’t stick together and can move freely. The benefit resembles that of aspirin, which has long been used to prevent heart attacks by thinning the blood and reducing clotting.
      The idea that red wine might be a heart-healthy product was shaped decades ago when researchers began examining what is now called the French paradox. Although the French typically eat foods high in saturated fat, their incidence of heart disease is nearly 50 percent less than that found in the United States. In 1991, a report that appeared on “60 Minutes” named the phenomenon and ascribed it to the fact that French people commonly drink red wine with their meals. Initially, researchers believed that the resveratrol in the wine deserved the credit for the effect, but more recent research has altered that opinion.
      In late 2006, researchers from the William Harvey Research Institute at Queen Mary, University of London revealed that it is the procyanidins in red wine that offer the most heart health benefits. Part of the flavonoids family of antioxidants, procyanidins are also found in the skin of the red grape and are said to contribute to long life spans in people from southwest France. The interesting point here is that winemaking in that region of the country is more traditional, giving the grapes several weeks to ferment, as opposed to just one week. The prolonged amount of time allows winemakers to extract the procyanidins fully and enrich their wine with the valuable antioxidant.
      Of course, wine made through more modern production means still offer commensurate benefits to the heart, so you don’t have to cash in your frequent flier miles to take advantage of everything red wine has to offer.

Everything In Moderation
      While dark chocolate and red wine can do your heart good, any food or drink that’s consumed in excess can become detrimental to your health. When it comes to chocolate, you have to remember that you’re still dealing with calories and fat. McFarland suggested that 1 ounce of dark chocolate three times per week would be an acceptable amount to eat, but “keep in mind that one ounce has about 135 calories, and the same amount of fruit would have about 13 calories. Over a week’s time, three ounces will add calories to your diet that must be accounted for if weight gain is not desirable. Even an extra 10 calories a day can lead to a pound of weight gain in a year.” And the more pounds you gain, the more strain you put on your body, especially if you become overweight or reach levels of obesity, which can lead to diabetes.
      Calories and possible weight gain are also factors when drinking red wine. “You have to realize that alcohol is calorie dense, and those are excessive calories,” McCullough cautioned. “If you’re going to take in those extra calories, make sure that you’re exercising enough and that you’re being active enough to support that.” In addition, you need to be aware of how much red wine you drink. The recommended daily amount is 4 ounces for women and 8 ounces for men. “Most wine glasses, however, hold about 8 to 10 ounces of wine,” McFarland advised. “So, get out a permanent marker, pour a half cup of wine into your wine glass if you’re female and one cup of wine into your glass if you are male. Mark your glass and use this glass each time to assure yourself a safe amount.”
      This tactic will not only guarantee that you don’t take in too many calories, but also that you don’t consume too much alcohol, which can do everything from impair your judgment and increase the probability of an accident to cause liver disease and heart rhythm problems. Beyond the recommended daily amounts, Margolis contended, “You start running into more negative effects than positive effects.” Accordingly, McFarland added, “The recommendation I give is that if you don’t drink, don’t start.” And if you do, be sure to drink in moderation.

Hearts Afire
      Clearly, the occasional glass of wine and bit of dark chocolate can help your heart in more ways than one. So as you and your honey sit down this Valentine’s Day with your favorite Cabernet and a heart-shaped box of (dark) sweets, know that both of your hearts are getting as much benefit from the wine and chocolate you’re savoring as the love and affection you’re sharing with each other. Now that’s amore!

For More Information

American Heart Association
www.americanheart.org

Red Wine and Health
www.red-wine-and-health.com

WebMD
www.webmd.com