Cocoa-rich chocolate and heart health in postmenopausal women
What it found
In postmenopausal women, eating 10 g of 99% cocoa chocolate daily for six months made little difference to blood pressure or blood vessel measures.
Pulse pressure fell slightly in the chocolate group compared with the control group.
What they found
Studies in people
Blood pressure
Systolic and diastolic blood pressure did not differ between the chocolate group and the control group after six months. The authors report no significant difference for systolic blood pressure.
Pulse pressure
Pulse pressure fell in the chocolate group compared with the control group, where it rose. The authors call this decrease significant.
Blood fats and sugar
Total cholesterol, LDL cholesterol, HDL cholesterol, glucose, insulin and insulin resistance showed no differences between the two groups. Body weight was also similar in both groups.
Artery stiffness
Measures of artery stiffness and blood vessel function, including the cardio-ankle vascular index and brachial-ankle pulse wave velocity, showed no differences between groups.
Overweight subgroup
Among women who were overweight or obese at the start, systolic blood pressure fell in the chocolate group and rose in the control group. Pulse pressure also fell in the chocolate group and rose in the control group.
How chocolate was eaten
Whether the chocolate was eaten plain or with coffee, tea or other foods made no significant difference to pulse pressure or systolic blood pressure.
What the authors conclude
“The daily intake of 10 g of cocoa-rich chocolate seems to provide little improvement to cardiovascular health, but neither does it cause any adverse effects on the parameters evaluated in postmenopausal women in the long term.”
Also in their conclusions
- They conclude that daily intake of 10 g of cocoa-rich chocolate seems to provide little improvement to cardiovascular health in postmenopausal women.
- They add that it does not cause any adverse effects on the parameters evaluated in this group in the long term.
- They call for further clinical trials with more subjects, easily reproducible in usual clinical practice, to evaluate long-term effects in populations at increased cardiovascular risk.
How it was done
The risk of cardiovascular disease rises after menopause because of lower estrogen. The authors wanted to test whether a cocoa-rich chocolate that people can buy in shops would help heart and blood vessel health in this group.
They randomly split 140 postmenopausal women aged 50 to 64 into two groups. For six months, one group added 10 g of 99% cocoa chocolate to their usual diet each day, while the other group changed nothing. Blood pressure, blood vessel stiffness and blood tests were measured at the start and after six months.
What it can’t tell you
- The trial lasted six months, so it cannot show what happens over many years.
- The authors note that the amount of polyphenols in the chocolate may have been too low to produce larger changes.
- The subgroup findings come from small groups, so they need confirmation in larger studies.
Who paid
- Funding
- Funded by Instituto de Salud Carlos III; Gerencia Regional de Salud de Castilla y León (from the PubMed record).
- Conflicts
- The authors declare no conflict of interest. The funders had no role in the design of the study; in the collection, analyses, or interpretation of data; in the writing of the manuscript; or in the decision to publish the results. Lindt & Sprüngli (city, state abbreviation, country) provided the necessary chocolate for the implementation of the study. This company did not play any role in the design of the study, the data analysis, the reporting of results, or the decision to present the manuscript for publication.
- Authors work at
- Instituto de Investigación Biomédica de Salamanca (IBSAL), Spain
The paper
- Title
- Effects of Cocoa-Rich Chocolate on Blood Pressure, Cardiovascular Risk Factors, and Arterial Stiffness in Postmenopausal Women: A Randomized Clinical Trial
- Type
- Randomised controlled trial
- Evidence
- Studies in people
- Summarised from
- Full text
- Cite
- Garcia-Yu IA, Garcia-Ortiz L, Gomez-Marcos MA, et al (2020). Effects of Cocoa-Rich Chocolate on Blood Pressure, Cardiovascular Risk Factors, and Arterial Stiffness in Postmenopausal Women: A Randomized Clinical Trial. Nutrients. doi:10.3390/nu12061758Free full textPubMed 32545478DOI
Summary written 26 Sep 2026. Check it against the paper before it changes what you eat. How we summarise papers · Report an error