Assessment of the Effects of Cocoa Powder on Blood Pressure in Humans – A Preliminary Study in Osogbo
Keywords:
Cocoa powder, blood pressure, hypertensivesAbstract
Background: Cocoa powder contains polyphenols (phytonutrients) which are increasingly being used either as dietary supplements or in fortification of foods. Polyphenols exhibit antioxidant activity known to play a vital role in reducing the risk of some diseases (including cardiovascular diseases) in humans by protecting cells in the body from damage during aerobic production of energy. The aim of this study was to investigate the effect of flavonoid-rich Cocoa powder on the blood pressure of clinically stable hypertensive patients.
Materials and Methods: In this intervention study, sixty-eight patients attending cardiology clinics (for treatment of hypertension) in two selected hospitals were serially recruited into the study after ethical approval had been obtained. Physical examination was conducted and selected parameters (including blood pressure, weight and height) were recorded. Each participant was instructed to consume 25g of cocoa powder diluted in 250 ml of water twice daily. Physical examinations were repeated on a 2-weekly basis, BMI was calculated on each visit. They were followed up for 9 weeks and the relevant clinical parameters were repeated at each clinic visit.
Results: Of the 67 subjects examined on the first day, 18 (26.8%) were hypertensive (BP > 140/90 mmHg). During subsequent visits, the proportion of hypertensive BP status gradually declined over the weeks as follows: 19 out of 67 (28.4%), 16 out of 63 (25.4%), 8 out of 60 (13.3%) and 7 out of 60 (11.6) in weeks 3, 5, 7 and 9 respectively. The BMI of the subjects did not show any significant variation over the weeks during the course of the study.
Conclusion: The study showed that daily cocoa consumption may be beneficial in the control of the BP and complimentary to pharmacotherapy in Nigerian hypertensive patients. However, we recommend the conduct of further studies (randomized study on a larger scale) in the Nigerian population in order to further validate the findings of this study.
References
Assa A, Asriati DW, Indriana D, Sampebarra AL.
Mineral contents in fermented bean shells of
Forastero-cocoa (Theobroma cacao L) clones. ICP
Conference Series Earth and Environmental Science
:012108 DOI: 10.1088/1755-1315/1/012108
Corti R, Flammer AJ, Hollenberg NK, Luscher TF. Cocoa and cardiovascular health. Circulation. 2009; 119: 1433– 1441.
Lee Hooper, Colin Kay, Asmaa Abdelhamid, Paul A
Kroon, Jeffrey S Cohn, Eric B Rimm et al. Effects of chocolate, cocoa, and flavan‐3‐ols on cardiovascular health: a systematic review and meta‐analysis of randomized trials. Am J Clin Nutr. 2012; 95: 740– 751.
Jumar A, Schmieder R E. Cocoa Flavanol
Cardiovascular Effects Beyond Blood Pressure Reduction. The Journal of Clinical Hypertension. 2016; 18 (4):352-8.
Kapoor S, Tyagi R, Saluja K, Chaturvedi A, Kapoor AK. Emerging health threats among a primitive tribal group of Central India. Journal of Public Health and Epidemiology. 2010;2: 13–19.
Katz DL, Doughty K, Ali A. Cocoa and Chocolate in Human Health and Disease. Antioxid Redox Signal. 2011; 15(10):2779-2811.
William C Knowler , Elizabeth Barrett-Connor, Sarah E Fowler, Richard F Hamman, John M Lachin,
Downloads
Published
How to Cite
Issue
Section
License
Copyright (c) 2023 Research Journal of Health Sciences
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivatives 4.0 International License.
Research Journal of Health Sciences journal is a peer reviewed, Open Access journal. The Journal subscribed to terms and conditions of Open Access publication. Articles are distributed under the terms of Creative Commons License (CC BY-NC-ND 4.0). (http://creativecommons.org/licences/by-nc-nd/4.0). All articles are made freely accessible for everyone to read, download, copy and distribute as long as appropriate credit is given and the new creations are licensed under the identical terms.
