Next time I cough, I’m going straight to the candy shop!
From The Daily Mail:
“Chocolate can calm coughs,” Professor Alyn Morice, head of cardiovascular and respiratory studies at the University of Hull, and a founding member of the International Society for the Study of Cough, wrote in The Daily Mail. “I know that might sound like something out of Mary Poppins, but as an independent clinician who has spent years researching the mechanism of cough, I can assure you the evidence is actually as solid a bar of Fruit and Nut.”
Previously, researchers at Imperial College in London found that theobromine, an alkaloid in cocoa, is better at suppressing the urge to cough than codeine — an established ingredient in cough medicines. The idea that chocolate could cure a cough might sound a bit mad, but the ROCOCO researchers believe the benefits are primarily down to the demulcent properties of cocoa.This simply means it is stickier and more viscose than standard cough medicines, so it forms a coating which protects nerve endings in the throat which trigger the urge to cough.
Reports from 11Alive in Atlanta just repeat what is printed above, but because they show pretty photos of chocolate, I added it it for your viewing pleasure.
The head-to-head comparison found that patients taking the chocolate-based medicine had a significant improvement in symptoms within two days.
ROCOCO, as it was called, was a well designed study, a randomized controlled trial involving 163 patients, and the results will be published within the next 12 months.
Chocolate for health. This isn’t the first time we have heard this, but I do love repeating it!
Susan Saunders 1/16/19
