Does chocolate reduce blood pressure? A meta-analysis

BackgroundDark chocolate and flavanol-rich cocoa products have attracted interest as an alternative treatment option for hypertension, a known risk factor for cardiovascular disease. Previous meta-analyses concluded that cocoa-rich foods may reduce blood pressure. Recently, several additional trials have been conducted with conflicting results. Our study summarises current evidence on the effect of flavanol-rich cocoa products on blood pressure in hypertensive and normotensive individuals.MethodsWe searched Medline, Cochrane and international trial registries between 1955 and 2009 for randomised controlled trials investigating the effect of cocoa as food or drink compared with placebo on systolic and diastolic blood pressure (SBP/DBP) for a minimum duration of 2 weeks. We conducted random effects meta-analysis of all studies fitting the inclusion criteria, as well as subgroup analysis by baseline blood pressure (hypertensive/normotensive). Meta-regression analysis explored the association between type of treatment, dosage, duration or baseline blood pressure and blood pressure outcome. Statistical significance was set at P ResultsFifteen trial arms of 13 assessed studies met the inclusion criteria. Pooled meta-analysis of all trials revealed a significant blood pressure-reducing effect of cocoa-chocolate compared with control (mean BP change +/- SE: SBP: -3.2 +/- 1.9 mmHg, P = 0.001; DBP: -2.0 +/- 1.3 mmHg, P = 0.003). However, subgroup meta-analysis was significant only for the hypertensive or prehypertensive subgroups (SBP: -5.0 +/- 3.0 mmHg; P = 0.0009; DBP: -2.7 +/- 2.2 mm Hg, P = 0.01), while BP was not significantly reduced in the normotensive subgroups (SBP: -1.6 +/- 2.3 mmHg, P = 0.17; DBP: -1.3 +/- 1.6 mmHg, P = 0.12). Nine trials used chocolate containing 50% to 70% cocoa compared with white chocolate or other cocoa-free controls, while six trials compared high- with low-flavanol cocoa products. Daily flavanol dosages ranged from 30 mg to 1000 mg in the active treatment groups, and interventions ran for 2 to 18 weeks. Meta-regression analysis found study design and type of control to be borderline significant but possibly indirect predictors for blood pressure outcome.ConclusionOur meta-analysis suggests that dark chocolate is superior to placebo in reducing systolic hypertension or diastolic prehypertension. Flavanol-rich chocolate did not significantly reduce mean blood pressure below 140 mmHg systolic or 80 mmHg diastolic.Karin Ried, Thomas Sullivan, Peter Fakler, Oliver R. Frank and Nigel P. Stock

Review on Polyphenols in Theobroma Cacao: Changes in Composition during the Manufacture of Chocolate and Methodology for Identification and Quantification.

Abstract not availableJRC.I-Institute for Health and Consumer Protection (Ispra

Analysis of Procyanidins in Chocolate by Reversed-Phase High-Performance Liquid Chromatography with Electrospray Ionisation Mass Spectrometric and Tandem Mass Spectrometric Detection.

Abstract not availableJRC.I-Institute for Health and Consumer Protection (Ispra

Biogeochemical and physical controls on concentrations of polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons in water and plankton of the Mediterranean and Black Seas

The Mediterranean and Black Seas are unique marine environments subject to important anthropogenic pressures due to atmospheric and riverine inputs of organic pollutants. They include regions of different physical and trophic characteristics, which allow the studying of the controls on pollutant occurrence and fate under different conditions in terms of particles, plankton biomass, interactions with the atmosphere, biodegradation, and their dependence on the pollutant physical chemical properties. Polycyclic Aromatic Hydrocarbons (PAHs) have been measured in samples of seawater (dissolved and particulate phases) and plankton during two east-west sampling cruises in June 2006 and May 2007. The concentrations of dissolved PAHs were higher in the south-western Black Sea and Eastern Mediterranean than in the Western Mediterranean, reflecting different pollutant loads, trophic conditions and cycling. Particle and plankton phase PAH concentrations were higher when lower concentrations of suspended particles and biomass occurred, with apparent differences due to the PAH physical chemical properties. The surface PAH particle phase concentrations decreased when the total suspended particles (TSP) increased for the higher molecular weight (MW) compounds, consistent with controls due to particle settling depletion of water column compounds and dilution. Conversely, PAH concentrations in plankton decreased at higher biomass only for the low MW PAHs, suggesting that biodegradative processes in the water column are a major driver of their occurrence in the photic zone. The results presented here are the most extensive data set available for the Mediterranean Sea and provide clear evidence of the important physical and biological controls on PAH occurrence and cycling in oceanic regions.This work was funded by the European Union and Spanish Ministry of Science and Innovation through the Thresholds projects. N. Berrojalbiz acknowledges a predoctoral fellowship from the Basque Government. C Duarte is acknowledged as PI of Thresholds project and for leading two legs of Thresholds cruises. A. Tovar and M. Alvarez are acknowledged for leading the other two Thresholds legs, respectively.Peer reviewe

Polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons (PAHs) atmospheric concentrations and deposition over the open Mediterranean and Black Seas

The Mediterranean Sea is a region of special interest in terms of pollutants monitoring and research due to its nature of semi-enclosed environment surrounded by highly populated areas. Polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons (PAHs) are a group of persistent organic pollutants (POPs) which are ubiquitous in the environment, bioaccumulate and may cause a wide range of toxic effects in biota and humans1. Very limited information is available on ambient levels, occurrence and deposition of PAH in marine environments and in particular in the Mediterranean Sea far from the shore line (open seas). Existing data have been mainly acquired from coastal areas. The incorporation of PAH to marine open waters and possible toxic effects is driven by atmospheric deposition processes2. It is therefore important to understand what the current ambient levels in the Mediterranean Sea airshed are in order to have a realistic idea of the potential inputs to this marine environment. The overall objectives of this work were: (1) to obtain PAH ambient air concentrations and congener patterns along the open Mediterranean Sea and in the Black Sea; (2) To investigate the atmosphere occurrence of PAHs in the open Mediterranean Sea and their day/night cycling in open waters; (3) to estimate the atmospheric deposition of PAHs in the Mediterranean and Black Seas.JRC.DDG.H.5-Rural, water and ecosystem resource

Atmospheric occurrence, transport and deposition of polychlorinated biphenyls and hexachlorobenzene in the Mediterranean and Black seas

The Mediterranean and Black seas are unique marine environments subject to important anthropogenic pressures due to direct and indirect loads of atmospheric inputs of organochlorine compounds (OCls) from primary and secondary sources. Here we report the results obtained during two east-west sampling cruises in June 2006 and May 2007 from Barcelona to Istanbul and Alexandria, respectively, where gas-phase and aerosol-phase samples were collected. Both matrices were analyzed for 41 polychlorinated biphenyls (PCBs), including dioxin-like congeners, and hexachlorobenzene (HCB). The values reported in this study for gas-phase HCB and Sigma 41PCB limit of detection (LOD) to 418.3 pg m(-3) and from 81.99 to 931.6 pg m(-3) respectively) are in the same range of those reported in former studies, possibly suggesting a limited decline in their atmospheric concentrations during the last decade for the Mediterranean region due to land-based OCl sources. There is a clear influence of the direction of the air mass on the atmospheric concentrations of PCBs, with higher concentrations when the air mass was from southern Europe, and the lowest concentrations for air masses coming from the SW Mediterranean and Atlantic Ocean. PCBs and HCB are close to air-water equilibrium for most sampling periods, thus resulting in low atmospheric deposition fluxes at open sea. This is consistent with the oligotrophic character of the Mediterranean Sea with a small influence of the biological pump capturing atmospheric PCBs. Therefore, degradation of gas-phase PCBs by OH radicals is estimated to be the main loss process of atmospheric PCBs during their transport over the Mediterranean Sea. Conversely, atmospheric residence times of HCB are predicted to be very long due to a lack of atmospheric degradation and low depositional fluxes due to concentrations at air-water equilibrium

Atmospheric occurrence, transport and deposition of polychlorinated biphenyls and hexachlorobenzene in the Mediterranean and Black Seas

Abstract. The Mediterranean and Black Seas are unique marine environments subject to important anthropogenic pressures due to direct and indirect loads of atmospheric inputs of organochlorine compounds (OCl) from primary and secondary sources. Here we report the results obtained during two east-west sampling cruises in June 2006 and May 2007 from Barcelona to Istanbul and Alexandria, respectively, where gas phase and aerosol samples were collected. Both matrices were analyzed for 41 polychlorinated biphenyls (PCBs), including dioxin-like congeners, and hexachlorobencene (HCB). The values reported in this study for gas phase HCB and ∑41PCB (LOD to 418.3 pg m−3 and from 81.99 to 931.6 pg m−3 respectively) are in the same range of those reported in former studies, possibly suggesting a limited decline in their atmospheric concentrations during the last decade for the Mediterranean region due to land base OCl sources. There is a clear influence of the direction of the air-mass on the atmospheric concentrations of PCBs, with higher concentrations when the air mass was from southern Europe, and the lowest concentrations for air masses coming from the SW Mediterranean and Atlantic Ocean. PCBs and HCB are close to air–water equilibrium for most sampling periods, thus resulting in low atmospheric deposition fluxes at open sea. This is consistent with the oligotrophic character of the Mediterranean Sea with a small influence of the biological pump capturing atmospheric PCBs. Therefore, degradation of gas-phase PCBs by OH radicals is estimated to be the main loss process of atmospheric PCBs during their transport over the Mediterranean Sea. Conversely, atmospheric residence times of HCB are predicted to be very long due to a lack of atmospheric degradation and low depositional fluxes due to concentrations at air–water equilibrium.JRC.H.1-Water Resource