If you have diabetes, controlling your blood pressure is the next most important thing you can do to keep yourself healthy after controlling your blood sugar.
So you probably were thrilled this morning when you saw some version of this headline in today's paper: "Dark Chocolate lowers blood pressure!" But before you hit the Hershey's, it's worth taking a look at those pesky details.
Here are two different online versions of the story you can refer to, each includes only part of the data released to the press:
Dark chocolate in a medicinal light
Dark Chocolate Lowers Blood Pressure, New Study
In the words of the first article: The study took "44 adults ages 56 to 73 who had untreated pre-hypertension or mild, stage 1 hypertension. Test participants were divided into two groups. One consumed a daily dose of dark chocolate; the other the same amount of white chocolate."
The second version includes an important fact ommitted in the first: "Every day for 18 weeks, the volunteers were instructed to eat one-square portions of a 16-square Ritter Sport bar, or a similar portion of white chocolate. White chocolate doesn't contain cocoa."
So, after consuming their square of Ritter Sport dark chocolate every day "Systolic blood pressure, the top number, fell an average of nearly three points and diastolic dropped almost two points in the group that ate dark chocolate, compared with no change in blood pressure readings in the group eating white chocolate."
Sounds pretty good doesn't it?
But here's the kicker. In over half the versions of the story which I read online the following piece of information was omitted:
Average blood pressure at the start of the 18-week test was 147 over 86.
This means that at the end of the study the average blood pressure was 144 over 82, which I'm sure your doctor will confirm is much too high!
So here's what the journalists should have been asking, but didn't ask.
1. Why were people with damagingly high blood pressures allowed to maintain those damagingly high blood pressures for 18 weeks without being put on one of the many effective drugs that could have lowered them rather than being subjected to what turned out to be a feeble and mostly ineffective treatment?
2. Why didn't anyone ask whether German candy manufacturer, Ritter Sport, whose candy was used exclusively in this study funded this German study? If they did, why didn't someone point out the ethical issues involved in delaying treatment for high blood pressure for 18 weeks in order to promote the dubious health benefits of their candy?
I like chocolate as much as the next woman, possibly more. So, trust me, if dark chocolate had healing properties, I'd be healed!
But this study, contrary to the headline, really shows that eating chocolate, whatever its benefits, does not provide enough improvement in blood pressure to make chocolate an alternative to one of the more effective methods available for getting blood pressure control. And when the chocolate companies are rolling out $3 chocolate bars plastered with health claims, this is worth keeping in mind.
Here are a couple of tried and true methods for controlling your blood pressure that you should be aware of:
1. Cut your carbs. A large proportion of those who adopt a lower carbohydrate diet sees their blood pressure drop.
2. Cut your salt intake. Many people are salt sensitive, and if you are one, cutting down on salt can make a huge difference. Try to keep your daily intake under 1 gram. Hint: one half can of canned soup has an entire day's worth of salt in it. You don't even want to know about what's in "snack" food.
3. Exercise regularly.
4. Lose weight if you are able.
3. If you are still running a blood pressure higher than normal (which tops out at 120/80) talk to your doctor about starting what would be the appropriate blood pressure medication for you. If you have diabetes, it should NOT be a diuretic (hydrocholorothiazide) as these drugs raise blood sugars. Lisinopril or another ACE inhibitor is the recommended drug. A month's worth of Lisinopril can be bought for $4 at Wal-Mart so cost shouldn't be a problem. If you can't take an ACE inhibitor, an ARB is recommended. Both these classes of drugs fight insulin resistance and also protect the kidneys.
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