Who doesn’t like Chocolate? According to a new study on rats in the Journal of Agricultural and Food Chemistry, consumption of a commercially available cocoa powder enriched in flavonoids may decrease blood pressure and boost heart health.
Rats fed 300 milligrams per kilogram of body weight experienced a reduction in blood pressure similar to a 50 mg/kg dose of Captopril, a well-known pharmaceutical anti-hypertensive.
“This is important because this drug is known to be a very effective anti-hypertensive treatment in clinical practice and spontaneously hypertensive rats represent nowadays the best experimental model for essential hypertension in humans,” wrote the researchers, led by Amaya Aleixandre from the Faculty of Medicine at the Universidad Complutense in Madrid.
The health benefits of chocolate have been noted in several studies over the last few years. Its positive health value is usually attributed to the fact that it is high in anti-oxidants.
Some quick facts: The study used Natraceutical’s CocoanOX cocoa powder and was funded by the company. This is not the first study to show health benefits from chocolate… and more long-term studies are needed.

Now for some bad news…

Sun Beds Have Been Elevated To A Top Cancer Risk By The World Health Organization!!! If you enjoy going to artificial tanning salons you are going to want to pay strict attention to this information.
According to a July 28, 2009 article posted on Breitbart.com: The International Agency for Research on Cancer announced in July that it had elevated sun beds, used by tens of millions of people for tanning, to its highest cancer risk category. “Classified in 1992 as a ‘probable’ cancer agent, research since then has left no doubt that soaking up UV rays at tanning salons significantly enhances the chances of developing the disease, the World Health Organization (WHO) agency found.”
Here is a very strong statement made by one of the researchers about artificial tanning: “The use of sun beds is carcinogenic to humans. It causes melanoma of the skin, and melanoma of the eye,” said Vincent Cogliano, an IARC researcher who led the new assessment. “I cannot see any reason why a healthy person should use them.”
According to the study, published in the British medical journal The Lancet, the most lethal form of skin cancer – melanoma – increases by 75% percent when the use of artificial tanning devices starts before the age of 30.
Researchers said that they are not regulators and just present the facts as they find them. Public health agencies can use these facts to regulate as they see fit. The article said they are calling for “tighter regulations for the billion dollar tanning industry.”