A treat to eat for a happy, healthy stomach
May 13th 2011 18:02
If you've got a soft spot for chocolate, give yourself a little pat on the tummy. Turns out the antioxidants in chocolate may be good for your gut.
In a new study, drinking antioxidant-rich cocoa daily increased the levels of protective gut bacteria in people's stomachs.
Good Gut Findings
This new research will need further confirmation from other independent studies, especially because it was backed partly by chocolate makers. But the results do shed interesting light on some new potential health benefits of chocolate. In the study, a small group of participants drank a cocoa-flavored beverage high in flavanols every day for 4 weeks. Then, after a few weeks' break, they followed the same regimen using cocoa much lower in flavanols. And researchers found that the high-flavanol cocoa had kicked up people's levels of Lactobacillus and Bifidobacterium -- two beneficial types of gut bacteria that help slow the growth of disease-causing bacteria and organisms. Bifidobacteria may also help with vitamin synthesis and have cholesterol-improving powers
From: Real Age free online
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