Chocolate, Red Wine, Coffee: A Prescribed Heart Attack

The Heart Foundation of Australia has pounded misconceptions that chocolates, red wines & coffees high in antioxidants can help prevent heart disease as “wishful thinking.” This horrific news was announced Tuesday afternoon after the foundation recently reviewed over 100 international scientific studies of antioxidants in the past decade.

“We’re concerned about people thinking that in having red wine or dark chocolate that they are actually doing something to treat or prevent cardiovascular disease,” said spokeswoman Ms Susan Anderson, the national director of healthy weight for the Heart Foundation, “when the evidence doesn’t support that.”

According to studies, many antioxidants present in raw cocoa are lost in the refining processes for its uses in baking, confectionary etc. Contrary to chocolate, coffee’s antioxidants are not lost it’s the high levels of LDL “bad” cholesterol that has the Heart Foundation fretting. LDL is responsible for cholesterol build up and blockages in arteries, symptoms that are associated with and can cause cardiovascular disease. The Heart Foundation particularly warns against Greek or Turkish coffees as they contain higher LDL cholesterol counts than their Italian filtered counterparts, which lose many of the LDL cholesterols present in the beans during the filtration process.

Apparently there is insufficient evidence to support whether the antioxidants present in red wine & vitamin supplements etc assist in the prevention and treatment of cardiovascular disease.

Regardless, not all hope is lost, as studies found that the sources richest in beneficial antioxidants are fruit, vegetables, grains, legumes and green or black tea. These sources are ‘easily absorbed and protect the cells from damage by free-radicals (known to cause degenerative diseases and cancer).’ Nevertheless chocolate, coffee & red wine have not been blacklisted nutritionally as they can still be enjoyed “as part of a balanced diet.”

Sources:
- Smith, Bridie, "Health Claims for chocolate shot through the heart," The Age Newspaper, 13 May, 2010, p 3.
- High Blood Cholesterol: What You Need To Know
- No Heart Benefits in Chocolate, Red Wine.