COLOGNE, Germany—Foods rich in cocoa appear to help lower blood pressure, while tea intake may not have an effect, according to a new meta-analysis from the University Hospital of Cologne, published in the Archives of Internal Medicine (167:626-34, 2007). Researchers reviewed randomized, controlled trials to determine changes in systolic and diastolic blood pressure (BP) relative to the intake of cocoa products or black and green tea. Five studies on cocoa (median duration two weeks) involving a total of 173 subjects found pooled mean systolic and diastolic BP were -4.7 mm Hg and -2.8 mm Hg lower, respectively, compared to controls. Five studies on tea consumption (median duration four weeks) involving 343 subjects found no significant effects on BP.
A news release from the journal noted tea and cocoa are both rich in polyphenols, but black and green tea contain more compounds known as flavan-3-ols, cocoa contains more of another type of polyphenol, procyanids. “This suggests that the different plant phenols must be differentiated with respect to their blood pressure-lowering potential and, thus, cardiovascular disease prevention, supposing that the tea phenols are less active than cocoa phenols,” according to the study authors. In addition, they noted the findings should be taken in dietary context to account for high sugar, fat and calorie intake associated with most cocoa products, making phenol-rich cocoa products a substitute for other, possibly less-heart healthy foods, in the diet. They concluded: “Rationally applied, cocoa products might be considered part of dietary approaches to lower hypertension risk.”
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