• Online Features  This Article  • Full text  • PDF  • Reply to article  • Send to a friend  • Save in My Folder  • Save to citation manager  • Permissions  Citing Articles  • Citation map  • Citing articles on HighWire  • Citing articles on Web of Science (82)  • Contact me when this article is cited  Related Content  • Similar articles in this journal  Topic Collections  • Quality of Care  • Evidence-Based Medicine  • Diet  • Hypertension  • Alert me on articles by topic  Social Bookmarking   What's this?

A Meta-analysis

Dirk Taubert, MD, PhD; Renate Roesen, PhD; Edgar Schömig, MD

Arch Intern Med. 2007;167(7):626-634.

Background  Epidemiological evidence suggests blood pressure–lowering effects of cocoa and tea. We undertook a meta-analysis of randomized controlled trials to determine changes in systolic and diastolic blood pressure due to the intake of cocoa products or black and green tea.

Methods  MEDLINE, EMBASE, SCOPUS, Science Citation Index, and the Cochrane Controlled Trials Register were searched from 1966 until October 2006 for studies in parallel group or crossover design involving 10 or more adults in whom blood pressure was assessed before and after receiving cocoa products or black or green tea for at least 7 days.

Results  Five randomized controlled studies of cocoa administration involving a total of 173 subjects with a median duration of 2 weeks were included. After the cocoa diets, the pooled mean systolic and diastolic blood pressure were –4.7 mm Hg (95% confidence interval [CI], –7.6 to –1.8 mm Hg; P = .002) and –2.8 mm Hg (95% CI, –4.8 to –0.8 mm Hg; P = .006) lower, respectively, compared with the cocoa-free controls. Five studies of tea consumption involving a total of 343 subjects with a median duration of 4 weeks were selected. The tea intake had no significant effects on blood pressure. The estimated pooled changes were 0.4 mm Hg (95% CI, –1.3 to 2.2 mm Hg; P = .63) in systolic and –0.6 mm Hg (95% CI, –1.5 to 0.4 mm Hg; P = .38) in diastolic blood pressure compared with controls.

Conclusion  Current randomized dietary studies indicate that consumption of foods rich in cocoa may reduce blood pressure, while tea intake appears to have no effect.

Author Affiliations: Department of Pharmacology, University Hospital of Cologne, Cologne, Germany.

CiteULike    Connotea    Delicious    Digg    Facebook    Reddit    Technorati    Twitter     What's this?

THIS ARTICLE HAS BEEN CITED BY OTHER ARTICLES

Flavonoid-Rich Cocoa Consumption Affects Multiple Cardiovascular Risk Factors in a Meta-Analysis of Short-Term Studies
Shrime et al.
J. Nutr. 2011;141:1982-1988.
ABSTRACT | FULL TEXT  

Chocolate consumption and cardiometabolic disorders: systematic review and meta-analysis
Buitrago-Lopez et al.
BMJ 2011;343:d4488-d4488.
ABSTRACT | FULL TEXT  

Lifestyle Intervention Strategies for the Prevention and Treatment of Hypertension: A Review
Bond Brill
AMERICAN JOURNAL OF LIFESTYLE MEDICINE 2011;5:346-360.
ABSTRACT  

Flavanols and cardiovascular disease prevention
Heiss et al.
Eur Heart J 2010;31:2583-2592.
ABSTRACT | FULL TEXT  

Chocolate Intake and Incidence of Heart Failure: A Population-Based Prospective Study of Middle-Aged and Elderly Women
Mostofsky et al.
Circ Heart Fail 2010;3:612-616.
ABSTRACT | FULL TEXT  

Does Dark Chocolate Have a Role in the Prevention and Management of Hypertension?: Commentary on the Evidence
Egan et al.
Hypertension 2010;55:1289-1295.
ABSTRACT | FULL TEXT  

Cocoa and Cardiovascular Health
Corti et al.
Circulation 2009;119:1433-1441.
ABSTRACT | FULL TEXT  

Complementary and alternative medicine approaches to blood pressure reduction: An evidence-based review
Nahas
cfp 2008;54:1529-1533.
ABSTRACT | FULL TEXT  

Consumption of green and roasted teas and the risk of stroke incidence: results from the Tokamachi-Nakasato cohort study in Japan
Tanabe et al.
Int J Epidemiol 2008;37:1030-1040.
ABSTRACT | FULL TEXT  

Tea, Flavonoids, and Nitric Oxide-Mediated Vascular Reactivity
Grassi et al.
J. Nutr. 2008;138:1554S-1560S.
ABSTRACT | FULL TEXT  

Flavonoids and cardiovascular health: which compounds, what mechanisms?
Geleijnse and Hollman
Am J Clin Nutr 2008;88:12-13.
FULL TEXT  

Flavonoids, flavonoid-rich foods, and cardiovascular risk: a meta-analysis of randomized controlled trials
Hooper et al.
Am J Clin Nutr 2008;88:38-50.
ABSTRACT | FULL TEXT  

Red wine, chocolate and vascular health: developing the evidence base
Corder
Heart 2008;94:821-823.
FULL TEXT  

The acute effect of green tea consumption on endothelial function in healthy individuals
Alexopoulos et al.
European Journal of Cardiovascular Prevention & Rehabilitation 2008;15:300-305.
ABSTRACT | FULL TEXT  

Daily Consumption of a Dark Chocolate Containing Flavanols and Added Sterol Esters Affects Cardiovascular Risk Factors in a Normotensive Population with Elevated Cholesterol
Allen et al.
J. Nutr. 2008;138:725-731.
ABSTRACT | FULL TEXT  

Effects of Low Habitual Cocoa Intake on Blood Pressure and Bioactive Nitric Oxide: A Randomized Controlled Trial
Taubert et al.
JAMA 2007;298:49-60.
ABSTRACT | FULL TEXT