Chocolate for Blood Pressure Too Hard to Stomach, Researchers Say

Like the old curse goes, "May you get what you want."

A small Australian study looking at whether it would be practical to give people dark chocolate as a treatment to lower blood pressure long term surprisingly found that half of those who were assigned to the chocolate found it difficult to eat every day; they preferred to take a lycopene capsule.

Although many people may find these results difficult to digest, lead researcher Dr Karin Ried (University of Adelaide, Australia) told heartwire that it appears there is a difference between "consuming a food item voluntarily or having to eat it on a daily basis for 12 weeks." The participants in the study, who had to eat half a bar of dark chocolate a day, "reported strong taste and concerns about fat/sugar content as reasons for unacceptability of chocolate as a long-term treatment option," she said. Ried writes about her study, which was published last year, in a letter to BMJ August 10, 2010. [sic]

Surprisingly sensible research subjects.