The Benefits of Dark chocolate and Red Wine for Your Heart

The Benefits of Dark chocolate and Red Wine for Your Heart Lisa Birnbach: I’m Lisa Birnbach for howdini. Dark Chocolate is health food, really? Its good for your heart, and that’s not all. Here to share the sweet news is Dr. Suzanne Stienbaum, a Cardiologist and specializes in women’s heart diseases at Lenox Hill hospital in New York. Is it true, can I eat more and more dark chocolate, and feel like I’m doing something medicinal for myself? Suzanne Stienbaum: I wouldn’t say more and more, I would say a little. Because, dark chocolate, about seventy percent of it being from the cocoa bean has in it bioflavonoid. Now what this substance does is actually decrease blood pressure, and decrease the incidents of heart disease. Its and antioxidant, and the cocoa bean is actually good for your heart. But, as you know, chocolate does have calories. And, in fact, one of those little squares of chocolate has about thirty calories. So eating one of those a day is actually beneficial to your heart. Lisa Birnbach: Does milk chocolate has any of the same flavonoids that dark chocolate has? Suzanne Stienbaum: Really what the best kind of chocolate to eat is the dark chocolate, because the dark chocolate is the one with the greater amount of cocoa in it. And the cocoa is what we really need to look at, and at seventy percent, we get those bioflavonoids. Lisa Birnbach: Now red wine has also been discussed as something good for your heart, how do you feel about that? Suzanne Stienbaum: Again, red wine has the same sort of antioxidant property in it. It’s very important to understand the amount of red wine, that’s very important. The glasses of red wine should be about six ounces. And one to two glasses of red wine is actually helpful for you, because again of those antioxidants. Lisa Birnbach: Now, when I hear the word antioxidant, I think of cancer preventing. But, antioxidant is also heart disease preventing. Suzanne Stienbaum: That’s right, when you eat food that is high in fats or high in sugars it goes through a process that releases these free radicals. And antioxidants stabilize these free radicals. These demons get inside the plaque, and actually can cause a co-rupture. So antioxidants in concept are very good in stabilizing and preventing the development of heart disease. Lisa Birnbach: I’m just wondering, you talked about the cocoa bean being the protector in chocolate. Is it the grape in wine that is the antioxidant? Suzanne Stienbaum: It’s actually the peal that has the most antioxidants in it. Lisa Birnbach: And what about the white grape? Is that useful at all in preventing heart disease? Suzanne Stienbaum: Yes it is but it doesn’t have as much antioxidants as the red. And all of this in moderation is helpful. Like I said, dark chocolate in moderation, and red wine in moderation. And that’s not a huge one to two glasses a day, that’s a six-ounce glass of wine. Lisa Birnbach: That’s not bad. Suzanne Stienbaum: No. Lisa Birnbach: Okay, thank you Dr. Stienbaum. Suzanne Stienbaum: Sure. Lisa Birnbach: For howdini, I’m Lisa Birnbach.