A toast to a healthier heart with chocolate milk

Medical researchers in Spain say that flavonoids, the compounds abundant in red wine that play an important role in preventing heart disease, are also present in cocoa and have the same beneficial effects for patients drinking cocoa in the form of chocolate milk.

Results of the study, which was published in the November issue of The American Journal of Clinical Nutrition, saw clear positive effects of cocoa flavonoids in the 42 older high-risk cardiovascular disease volunteers who participated. The researchers noted, however, that these effects were not as significant as those seen in red wine.

Participants in the four-week study were both men and women at least 55 years old who were considered at high risk for heart disease. Each person drank two eight-ounce glasses of chocolate skim milk per day, with a total cocoa consumption of about 1.7 ounces per day.

At the end of the trial, researchers observed not only significantly lower levels of serum biomarkers related to atherosclerosis in the volunteers, but also higher levels of HDL (“good”) cholesterol.