Dark Chocolate Bar – Different Types To Suit Your Personal Taste Preference

Posted by admin | Posted on 07-10-2010

Category : Region V

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Dark Chocolate Bar – Different Types To Suit Your Personal Taste Preference

Many folks thoroughly enjoy a dark chocolate bar as opposed to a milk chocolate bar. However, there are also probably many more people that enjoy the milk chocolate instead too. This is probably due to the distinctly different taste that is somewhat more bitter and more prevalent in dark chocolate than in milk chocolate. Of course, the personal taste preference would also probably have something to do with this too. It is relatively doubtful that it is simply and primarily for the potential health benefits that are said to be distinct to dark chocolate and it is probably more aimed at the taste.

Dark chocolate has been studied for possible and potential health benefits that are closely related to the heart. It has been said that this is due to the flavoniods and their active ingredient epicatechin.

There was a study that was done by the University of California, San Francisco, School of Nursing in which the Dove Dark Chocolate was the primary study. The American Cocoa Research Institute provided these for this specific study. Some had these flavonoids and some had the flavonoids taken out. They used twenty one otherwise healthy people and split them into two groups. Each group would eat one point four ounces of this chocolate a day. The exception was that one group had flavonoids and one did not. After two weeks, these people were subjected to testing to explore their blood vessel dilation and found that the people that had the flavonoids had better blood flow and blood vessel function. These studies were published in the Journal of the American College of Nutrition.

Does this prove anything about the dark chocolate bar? It may be that considering the extended amount of flavonoids that are in dark chocolate does aid in the prevention of blood clots which subsequently can lead to heart attacks. And, considering that the cocoa plant is just that, a plant, it may. Of course, by simply eating dark chocolate daily will not keep one healthy. One must also eat right as well as exercise in order to reap the benefits of a healthy regime. And, when doing this, one must certainly limit the amount of dark chocolate that they intake. Fore, any type of chocolate is loaded with fats and sugars as well as high in calories and large amounts will certainly defeat the purpose.

Choose Dark Chocolate for Heart Health

Posted by admin | Posted on 25-09-2010

Category : Region V

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Choose Dark Chocolate for Heart Health

Have you heard of the saying – ‘A dark chocolate a day keeps the doctor away?’ if not, you need to gain a lot of knowledge about dark chocolate. Take a dark chocolate daily is good for the heart as these chocolates are fully loaded with many flavaniods. All you require to do to keep your heart in a healthy state is to eat a small 1.6-ounce bar of dark chocolate for heart health each day. Mary Engler of the University of California, San Francisco, has done the research.

Remember that not every chocolate is created equal. You must know that any standard manufacturing process for chocolate tends to destroy more than half of the flavaniods. However, fortunately, most companies have now learned the art of preparing dark chocolate that would preserve up to 95 per cent of its flavaniods. This is no scam. It is 100% true that you can benefit a lot by eating chocolate now.

This does not mean that you overload yourself with chocolate. Remember that chocolate tends to possess many calories and you definitely need to cut down on somewhere else if you are having a lot of dark chocolate.

There are several benefits of eating dark chocolate. Here are some of these benefits:

· Lowers blood pressure: One of the main benefits of eating dark chocolate is that it tends to lower your blood pressure if it is too high. This has been proved as confirmed by a report by Dirk Jaubert, MD, phd at the University of Cologne in Germany. The report was published in the Journal of the American Medical Association. However, make sure this report does not give you a reason to binge on, as these are many calories in chocolate.

· Presence of antioxidants: When dark chocolate is taken in sufficient quantity, it proves to be a strong antioxidant to the body. This is proved by a report produced by Mauro Serafini, Phd and colleagues of Italy’s National Institute for Food and Nutrition Research in Rome. The issue of Nature published this report. Antioxidants are powerful enough to eat up many free radials, hazardous molecules implicated in heart disease or other health conditions. Remember that in order to benefit from antioxidants you need to eat dark chocolate without milk. People who have dark chocolate daily have higher levels of epicatechin. It is a real healthy compound found commonly in dark chocolate.

· Good heart: As discussed earlier, dark chocolate is rich in flavaniods. This compound’s healthy for the heart. It has also other healthy compounds that help in keeping the heart of individuals who eat dark chocolate in a healthy state.

With so many benefits of dark chocolate, there is no reason that you should stay away from it. All you require to do is to remember that a healthy diet balance is what keeps the heart fit and fine. Binging in will never help you achieve the desired goals. Choose dark chocolate for heart health.

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High Blood Pressure And Dark Chocolate

Posted by admin | Posted on 29-08-2010

Category : Region V

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High Blood Pressure And Dark Chocolate

Is there anything left out there that doctors have decided is not dangerous to eat. Well, yes – dark chocolate as long as you don’t eat too much. Dark chocolate has a surprising number of health benefits. For one, you may be able to lower your blood pressure by eating a few pieces of 70% chocolate.

Dark chocolate is also known as “bittersweet” or “semisweet” chocolate contains a high percentage (up to 75%) of cocoa solids, and little (or no) added sugar. Milk chocolate contains powdered or condensed milk; it is a sweet, mild-flavored type of chocolate. It contains approximately 20 percent cocoa solids. White chocolate is not classified as chocolate because it does not come from cocoa beans. However, it is made from cocoa butter to which milk, sugar, and vanilla extract have been added, and it is similar to chocolate in texture.

A few years ago researchers at Harvard discovered that the flavonoids that are present in cocoa help improve blood flow to the brain. One of the causes of mental decline as you age is decreased blood flow to the brain. As you can see dark chocolate has the highest percentage of cocoa therefore contains the largest concentration of flavonoids. Foods that contain high amounts of flavonoids include blueberries, cranberries, blackberries, red and yellow fruits (especially red grapes) and vegetables and red wine. Black and green teas are also high in flavonoids.

In a study at the University of California, San Francisco though both groups were given dark chocolate for two weeks, only one group received chocolate containing flavonoids. The other group’s chocolate bars contained no flavonoids. Dark chocolate contains a rather vigorous type of flavonoid called epicatechin. Epicatechin keeps cholesterol from accumulating in the blood vessels hence reducing the risk of stroke and heart disease. There is also evidence to support that they reduce the probability of cancer and diabetes.

At the end of the two weeks each group was tested to see how well the blood vessels dilate and relaxed which is considered an indicator of healthy blood vessel function. The test subjects that consumed the dark chocolate containing flavonoids performed better on the blood vessels test. Blood tests indicated that high levels of epicatechin were in their arteries. Apparently the University of California study was the longest clinical trial to date using dark chocolate.

Another study done in Germany indicated that consuming dark chocolate can help lower blood pressure. One group was given white chocolate and one group dark chocolate. The test subjects who ate dark chocolate had a significant drop in blood pressure (by an average of 5 points for systolic and an average of 2 points for diastolic blood pressure). Those who ate white chocolate did not.

The only sad part of this story is that more is not better. You can’t eat all the dark chocolate you want. The people in the study ate about 3 ounces a day. Also try to buy dark chocolate bars that contain at least 70 percent cocoa content.

Antioxidants are a natural resource for keeping your body healthy. Want to find out which foods rich in antioxidant visit us at Curepure.com and make your grocery list for stronger immune system.

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Dark horses of the medical world – Pharmacists

Posted by admin | Posted on 05-08-2010

Category : Pharmacy Students

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Dark horses of the medical world – Pharmacists

Going by the definition, work profile of pharmacists involves dispensing of medicines after receiving a legal prescription and counseling of the clients in regard to their health concerns.

Pharmacists are involved in the early stages of drug development, studying drug interactions, drug effects, and doing follow-up with the clients to assess treatment effectiveness. These distinctive job characteristics make them a valuable asset in the medical arena as it also helps them evaluate the hazardous effects of drug abuse.

To qualify as a pharmacist, aspirants need to have four years’ Bachelor of Pharmacy or two years’ Diploma in Pharmacy, which can be followed by two years’ Master of Pharmacy and Ph.D programs in various specializations, offered by the premier institutes of Pharmacy.

Given the education and training pharmacists possess, they have been entitled to various job titles to perform various functions fulfilling the distinct demands of the medical profession. These include Quality Controller to keep a check on the drug-use process; Caregiver to offer more than a medication to serve the best interests of the client; Clinician/Clinical Pharmacist to assess clients and guide doctors and other health care professionals to help them prescribe right medications to their clients in drug therapy; Advisor to counsel clients in regard to the drug-intake for the best therapeutic outcome; and Teacher to impart knowledge to patients, students/interns/technicians/residents of pharmacy.

Besides above mentioned roles, following are the other exciting opportunities for pharmacists, including:

Law – Pharmaceutical Company Attorney/Retail Pharmacy Medical and Scientific Publishing – Science Writer, Editor-in-Chief Nuclear Pharmacy – Chemotherapy pharmacist Pharmaceutical Industry – Pharmacogenomics, Manufacturing, Research and Development Hospital Pharmacy – Clinical Pharmacist, Staff Pharmacist, Pharmacy Adminstrator Pharmacy Consultant – Long-Term Care Facilities, Internet Consultant, Home Health Care Government Agencies – FDA inspector, Public Health Services, Hospice and Home Care

For complete job satisfaction and reach zenith of success, aspirants need to have certain personality traits to exceed the level of performance. Along with the keen interest in science, learning potential, friendly temperament, having caregiver’s attitude are some of the other prerequisites desired in a pharmacist.

Against the popular belief, the field of pharmacy has its hands full and with the shift of focus toward research and development, future seems to be promising for the budding pharmacists. On a global platform, pharmaceutical profession has assumed many roles and responsibilities within its capacity while focusing on the single goal i.e. to serve the society.

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Pharmacists – Dark Horses Of The Medical World

Posted by admin | Posted on 04-08-2010

Category : Pharmacy Students

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Pharmacists – Dark Horses Of The Medical World

Pharmacists – Dark horses of the medical world

In spite of the indispensable role played by pharmacists, they are not as popular as doctors in the health care system. Pharmacists are lesser valued possession of the medical sphere but nevertheless, their demand is increasing constantly with more and more development of health infrastructure and advanced life saving drugs for end-of-life diseases.

Going by the definition, work profile of pharmacists involves dispensing of medicines after receiving a legal prescription and counseling of the clients in regard to their health concerns.

Pharmacists are involved in the early stages of drug development, studying drug interactions, drug effects, and doing follow-up with the clients to assess treatment effectiveness. These distinctive job characteristics make them a valuable asset in the medical arena as it also helps them evaluate the hazardous effects of drug abuse.

To qualify as a pharmacist, aspirants need to have four years’ Bachelor of Pharmacy or two years’ Diploma in Pharmacy, which can be followed by two years’ Master of Pharmacy and Ph.D programs in various specializations, offered by the premier institutes of Pharmacy.

Given the education and training pharmacists possess, they have been entitled to various job titles to perform various functions fulfilling the distinct demands of the medical profession. These include Quality Controller to keep a check on the drug-use process; Caregiver to offer more than a medication to serve the best interests of the client; Clinician/Clinical Pharmacist to assess clients and guide doctors and other health care professionals to help them prescribe right medications to their clients in drug therapy; Advisor to counsel clients in regard to the drug-intake for the best therapeutic outcome; and Teacher to impart knowledge to patients, students/interns/technicians/residents of pharmacy.

Besides above mentioned roles, following are the other exciting opportunities for pharmacists, including:

Law – Pharmaceutical Company Attorney/Retail Pharmacy
Medical and Scientific Publishing – Science Writer, Editor-in-Chief
Nuclear Pharmacy – Chemotherapy pharmacist
Pharmaceutical Industry – Pharmacogenomics, Manufacturing, Research and Development
Hospital Pharmacy – Clinical Pharmacist, Staff Pharmacist, Pharmacy Adminstrator
Pharmacy Consultant – Long-Term Care Facilities, Internet Consultant, Home Health Care
Government Agencies – FDA inspector, Public Health Services, Hospice and Home Care

For complete job satisfaction and reach zenith of success, aspirants need to have certain personality traits to exceed the level of performance. Along with the keen interest in science, learning potential, friendly temperament, having caregiver’s attitude are some of the other prerequisites desired in a pharmacist.

Against the popular belief, the field of pharmacy has its hands full and with the shift of focus toward research and development, future seems to be promising for the budding pharmacists. On a global platform, pharmaceutical profession has assumed many roles and responsibilities within its capacity while focusing on the single goal i.e. to serve the society.

More Pharmacy Students Articles