 Good news for chocoholics. The treat favoured by millions not only tastes delicious but is healthy for you, American researchers said on Monday.
Chocolate contains compounds called flavonoids that can help maintain a healthy heart and good circulation and reduce blood clotting. The researchers found not only an increase in antioxidant capacity after chocolate consumption, but also modulation of certain compounds which affect blood vessels. The researchers measured the impact of chocolate on platelets in the blood. Platelet activation is thought to be an important risk factor in blood clotting. Volunteers who consumed the chocolate had lower levels of platelet activity, while the scientists found no change in the group that ate the bread. The results of the study support earlier research which showed that cocoa acts like low-dose aspirin which helps to reduce blood clotting. These results lead us to believe that chocolate may contribute to a healthy, well-balanced diet. (Agencies) | 巧克力族們這下可以放心食用香甜可口的巧克力了。 美國學者9月3日表示，巧克力--這種受到廣大民眾喜愛的食品，不僅味香可口，而且還對身體大有裨益。  研究表明，巧克力中含有一種黃酮混合物，具有維持心臟健康、促進血液循環及減少血液凝結物等功能。長期食用巧克力還能降低心臟病的發病率。人們在消化巧克力的過程中吸收了大量的黃酮成份，這種物質能夠起到增強心血管功能的作用。
研究人員測量出了巧克力對血液中血小板的影響程度。而科學界一直有人認為，血小板的活動程度對血凝程度起著至關重要的作用。
血液樣本顯示，食用巧克力的志愿者的血小板活動減慢了，而食用面包的志愿者則無任何變化。研究結果表明，巧克力中的可可粉能夠起到同阿斯匹林相類似的降低血液粘度的作用。 這一結果使我們相信，巧克力能夠作為健康及均衡體能的食品。 (中國日報網站譯) |
Updated: 2001-09-05 01:00
