It’s very satisfying to be able to occasionally report on the good news about chocolate. In addition to just tasting good and elevating mood, studies keep showing it provides health benefits by being rich in antioxidants and phenols.

A report in the April 9 issue of JAMA highlights a meta-analysis of previously published trials involving cocoa products and tea. Both cocoa and tea contain polyphenols, which are known to have beneficial effects on cardiovascular health and blood pressure.

Based on the results of these trials - five involving cocoa products and five involving tea consumption - researchers at the University Hospital of Cologne, Germany, concluded that cocoa products, especially dark chocolate, lowered blood pressure levels comparably to blood pressure medication.
Consumption of tea had no effect on blood pressure.

Researchers conclude that it is a difference in the types of phenols contained in the two products that leads to the varying effectiveness - black and green tea contain more compounds known as flavan-3-ols, cocoa contains more of another type of polyphenol, procyanids.

They aren’t recommending widespread consumption of cocoa products to lower blood pressure, mainly because those foods usually also contain high amounts of fat and sugar. Still, dark chocolate is recommended as a better choice than other high-fat or high-calorie desserts.

“Rationally applied, cocoa products might be considered part of dietary approaches to lower hypertension risk”, the authors conclude.

Cocoa, But Not Tea, May Lower Blood Pressure