British researchers examining the diets of over 25,000 people found that those in the top 10 percent for flavanol consumption had significantly lower blood pressure (between 2 and 4 points) than those in the bottom 10 percent!
While not the first study to show flavanols reduce systolic and diastolic blood pressure, it’s probably the largest! And the results reveal an outcome comparable to the health benefits of a Mediterranean diet, according to study researchers.
Published in Scientific Reports, the authors noted that flavanol-rich foods include apples, berries, red wine, tea and, of course, cocoa. Unlike other population-based studies that rely on self-reported and often inaccurate food diaries, this study measured flavanol intake with nutritional biomarkers: indicators that live in the blood and reveal a person’s dietary intake, metabolism, and nutritional status.
“What this study gives us is an objective finding about the association between flavanols and blood pressure” says study leader Prof. Gunter Kuhnle from the University of Reading.
One can only imagine the results if the top 10% were consuming FlavaMix or FlavaBars!😉