Earlier Smartkit posts delved into the strong relationship between your brain’s ability to work well and the health of its blood vessels.

One important determinant of blood vessel health is cholesterol levels, with the LDL subtype of cholesterol being “bad” for your arteries and HDL being “good” (Click here for a Smartkit post on how to naturally raise your HDL).

Came across a couple of interesting studies that show how high-flavanol dark chocolate can lower LDL cholesterol levels. One study was published in the Journal of the American Dietetic Association 2006 Nov;106(11):1804-13 (abstract), out of the University of California, Davis. The author’s conclude:

The data suggest that the incorporation of this snack food into a balanced diet represents a practical dietary strategy in the management of serum cholesterol levels.

Another study was published in the journal Hypertension in 2005 Aug;46(2):398-405(abstract). This latter study also found that flavanol-rich dark chocolate also had a powerful ability to lower blood pressure in patients with essential hypertension.

Unfortunately, most chocolate your buy, even dark chocolate, has little in the way of the healthy flavanols after all the processing it goes through. If you’re looking for flavanol-rich chocolate, the best bet is go with cacao nibs. I just bought some the other day, and, while they’re not really that sweet, the taste isn’t all that bad. Cacao nibs are basically little chopped pieces of raw cocoa beans.

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