Dark Chocolate Helps Keep Blood-Clotting Dangers at Bay

TUESDAY, Nov. 14 (HealthDay News) -- People who couldn't stomach a medical study requiring them to give up chocolate ended up helping science, anyway.

These chocoholics' blood platelets displayed a reduced tendency to clot together in dangerous clumps, researchers found.

Billed as the "first biochemical analysis" on the subject, the finding may explain why chocolate can be good for the heart.

"Chocolate that's flavonoid-rich, that's dark, that's good quality, that's not traveling with all of its bad friends like sugar and fat, probably has some fairly potent pro-health benefits, although not as strong as aspirin," said lead researcher Diane Becker, professor of medicine at Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine in Baltimore.

Her belief: "Not all chocolate is bad."

Becker presented the findings Tuesday at the annual meeting of the American Heart Association, in Chicago.

Another expert cautioned that chocolate is just one sweet piece of the dietary puzzle, however.

The study is "interesting and in the right direction but the overall diet is what people ought to be concerned about," said Dr. Robert H. Eckel, professor of medicine at the University of Colorado School of Medicine in Denver and past president of the AHA. He was not involved in this research.

Previous laboratory research had already shown this effect with large quantities of dark chocolate, which has high levels of antioxidants called flavonoids.

"The quantities were far more than anyone would ever eat and the measurements were done only two to four hours after the people consumed it," Becker, a self-professed chocoholic, explained. "We didn't know about chocolate consumption the way people really eat it."

The 139 individuals participating in this "offshoot" study had already been disqualified from a larger study examining the effects of aspirin on blood platelets. All had a family history of premature coronary heart disease, putting them at higher risk for heart disease.

Participants were instructed to follow a strict exercise regimen and to refrain from smoking or consuming food or drinks known to affect the activity of blood platelets, which are key to clotting. In addition to coffee, tea and other caffeinated drinks, this meant chocolate.