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MLive.com Odd sports collectibles that should be available MLive.com, MI - ... I've created a brief sports souvenir scale so investors can roughly gauge where best to burn their copious amounts of loose change. ... Cops should know better in the Drug War The Barrie Examiner, Canada - With copious amounts of cannabis I can cut my prescription pill intake by two thirds. I am not unusual in this issue. Many patients have large numbers of ... Police shocked at 200-strong party The Ashburton Guardian, New Zealand - He found there was no adult supervision, no food, copious amounts of alcohol and highly intoxicated people as young as 15. A number of older people who no ... Miss Manners: Wedding gift tally takes a toll Kansas City Star, MO - Jun 29, 2008 DEAR MISS MANNERS: Recently my relative was married in a lavish affair with copious amounts of food and drink. After the wedding, the bridal couple compared ... E/The Environmental Magazine The Meat of the Matter E/The Environmental Magazine, CT - Another byproduct of raising livestock is copious amounts of ammonia, which contributes to acid rain and the acidification of ecosystems. 'Mad Men: Season 1' Zap2it.com - For starters, the four discs come packaged in a metal case that resembles a Zippo lighter -- a nod to the copious amounts of cigarette smoke that the show's ... Allentown Morning Call Sold! Winning bid for Leiby's is $1.5 million Allentown Morning Call, PA - It later grew into a full-service restaurant, but remained known for having copious amounts of ice cream flavors and homemade pies. Global challenge energises students Gisborne Herald, New Zealand - A diet of energy drinks and copious amounts of food, helped anoint the brains of the three seventh formers as they competed over a 24-hour period for an ... CBC.ca Let the stars overshadow the steroids for a day Fort Worth Star Telegram, TX - Jun 29, 2008 It was copious amounts of steroids." And so the logical question is: Is this LZR talk covering up legit doping talk with regard to swimming? ... Day of breathless speed St. Louis Post-Dispatch Gary Hall Jr. talking about drugs in swimming USA Today all 1,286 news articles » Save the Gorillas Food Consumer, IL - Jun 29, 2008 Nearly all species manufacture these copious amounts 24/7 out of the sugar glucose, and they make more vitamin C under stress. Glucose is present in the ...

Can Dark Chocolate Halt Heart Trouble?

Legend has it that chocolate, eaten in copious amounts after a break-up, can mend a broken heart.

But can that same delicacy actually prevent the breakage in the first place, at least physiologically speaking?.

Two research letters in the Aug. 27 issue of the Journal of the American Medical Association found dark chocolate and drinkable cocoa had beneficial effects on certain measures of heart function. Both were small studies, however, and experts warn it’s not yet time to substitute Nestle’s dark for tried-and-true fruits and veggies. "Letters to the editors are not the place to change nutrition policy," says Dr. Robert H. Eckel, chairman of the American Heart Association’s Council on Nutrition, Physical Activity and Metabolism. "Not only is chocolate high in calories, but one-third of it is fat that can be converted to a monounsaturated fatty acid. This doesn’t give us enough information to just open the green light to chocolate consumption."

The first study tried to ascertain the beneficial properties of polyphenols, compounds that are found in various plants including cocoa plants.

Thirteen people aged 55 to 64, who had recently diagnosed and untreated hypertension, were randomly assigned to receive either dark chocolate bars with 500 milligrams of polyphenols and 480 calories or white chocolate, also with 480 calories but no polyphenols. After 14 days, the participants abstained from chocolate for seven days, then switched groups.

Individuals who had been taking the polyphenol-rich chocolate saw a reduction in their blood pressure within 10 days. Those in the white chocolate group had no reduction.

"The idea that there could be differences between dark and white chocolate that could be related to blood pressure needs to be fleshed out," Eckel says.

There’s also the issue of quantity. "The way we process chocolate tends to reduce the concentration of healthful compounds," says Samantha Heller, senior clinical nutritionist at the Joan and Joel Smilow Center for Cardiac Rehabilitation and Prevention at New York University Medical Center.

At the same time, Heller points out, "Polyphenols are found in fruits and vegetables with the same if not more health-promoting qualities."

The second study involved 26 participants who were asked to drink cocoa high in flavonoids called flavan-3-ols. In this study, just one drink had a beneficial effect on endothelial function. The endothelium is the inner lining of the blood vessels. Again, though, the study was a small one and also had some methodological problems. "Seventy-seven percent of these people smoked and are probably damaging their endothelium left and right," Eckel says.

Also, the particular endpoint the authors were looking at, flow-mediated dilation, may or may not be a good indication of a person’s prognosis. "Keep in mind flow-mediated dilation is not a heart attack," Eckel warns. "It is a very weak surrogate predictor of an unhealthy endothelium."

"Chocolate is still chocolate in terms of fat composition," Eckel adds. "Even though there could be some properties of cocoa that are beneficial, we have lots of downsides of caloric consumption that may cut across the grain of benefit." Look for fruits and vegetables for their natural cardioprotective qualities, but don’t despair. "If you want a chocolate treat once in a while, the bitterer the better and don’t feel badly about it," Heller says.