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(Hypertension. 2005;46:e21.)
© 2005 American Heart Association, Inc.

Hypertension Electronic Pages

Chocolate Consumption and Incidence of Hypertension

Alvaro Alonso; Carmen de la Fuente; Juan José Beunza; Almudena Sánchez-Villegas; Miguel Ángel Martínez-González

Department of Preventive Medicine and Public Health, School of Medicine, University of Navarra, Pamplona, Spain

Alvaro Alonso

Department of Epidemiology, Harvard School of Public Health, Boston, MA

Almudena Sánchez-Villegas

Department of Clinical Sciences, University of Las Palmas de Gran Canaria, Las Palmas de Gran Canaria, Spain

An extract of the first 250 words of the full text is provided, because this article has no abstract.

To the Editor:

Results from the well-conducted randomized trial by Grassi et al¹ underline the positive effect of flavanols on blood pressure and endothelial function. However, this study and others² fail to answer the important questions about the effect of cocoa consumption in a free-living population consuming standard commercial chocolate products. To address this issue, we evaluated the association between chocolate consumption and incidence of hypertension in the Seguimiento Universidad de Navarra Study, a dynamic cohort of university graduates recruited and followed-up biennially through mailed questionnaires.³ The enrollment of participants is permanently open. In this analysis, we have included participants recruited from December 1999 to January 2002. Diet was assessed with a semiquantitative food frequency questionnaire (136 items) validated previously in Spain.⁴ New cases of medically diagnosed hypertension were reported in the 2-year follow-up questionnaire. Participants with cardiovascular disease, cancer, diabetes or hypertension at baseline, and those with missing values in covariates were excluded. Finally, 5880 participants (mean age: 35.8 years, 61.3% female) from the 6686 eligible answered the 2-year follow-up questionnaire (88% retention in the cohort). After 13 526 person-years of follow-up, we identified 180 new cases of hypertension. Overall, chocolate consumption was not associated with the risk of hypertension (Table 1). Adjustment for other dietary variables presumably related to blood pressure levels did not appreciably change the results.

View this table: [in this window] [in a new window]   Rate Ratios (95% CIs) of Hypertension by Quintiles of Chocolate Consumption in 5880 Participants in the Seguimiento Universidad de Navarra Cohort

These results can be partly explained by . . . [Full Text of this Article]

Davide Grassi

Department of Internal Medicine and Public Health, University of L’Aquila, L’Aquila, Italy

Jeffrey B. Blumberg

Jean Mayer US Department of Agriculture, Human Nutrition Research Center on Aging, Tufts University, Boston, Massachusetts

Claudio Ferri

Department of Internal Medicine and Public Health, University of L’Aquila, L’Aquila, Italy

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