E.A. Butler on Chocolate

While re-reading Butler's excellent book, "AF, My Heart Doctors and Me", I was surprised by his glowing praise for chocolate (rich in heart-healthy anti-oxidants). I thought all caffeine-containing foods were considered AF triggers and required strict avoidance by afibbers. I haven't eaten any chocolate for over two years of NSR while on sotalol, and I'm not about to dive headfirst into a chocolate cake, but am interested in any insights you people may have.

-will

Chocolate for me has never been a trigger - Thank God! Foods do not seem to be a trigger. STRESS does, but only after I come down from the stress - not during.

Happy Holidays!

My impression is that chocolate contains theobromine, not strictly caffeine though a similar kind of substance. So far [knock, knock, knock] it has never affected me like caffeine does.
Peggy

Chocolate has never been a trigger for me; but then I have never found any food to be a trigger - not even caffeine. Alcohol is a definate trigger, however, I do still have that occasional 1 or 2 glasses of red wine. If I leave it at that, it doesn't seem to bother me. No other alcohol.

I have always been a frequent fibber and have had a reprieve since last August 1, when I started taking daily brisk long (3.6 miles) walks. I get back in just about 1 hour, and am pretty well guaranteed no afib. Every morning when I leave the house, I feel like I am buying one more day of freedom. After all these years, I just can't believe it. In 4 months I have had one episode because it rained for 4 days, and on the fourth day of missing my walk, I had a 10 hour episode of afib. I'm convinced. That means I have to buy my freedom every day, and I take that walk with happiness and thankfulness.

Pam

I forgot to add that the only med I'm taking now is Lanoxin 0.25 mg.

Oh and Coumadin, but that is because I have a prosthetic mitral valve, not necessarily for afib. I'll be on Coumadin the rest of my life with or without afib. With all of the controversy that I read about whether or not to anticoagulate, I'm rather glad that I don't have to make that decision. It is a difficult decision, with too many variables.

Pam

Will - Good news for chocolate lovers. The press I've seen on the benefits of chocolate apply to only the dark chocolate.

Some of the benefits are attributed to the magnesium content of chocolate. The downside is the fat content and the big deterrent is the sugar content...but if one ate pure semi-sweet dark chocolate in that form and not as a candy bar with additional sugar, it might have some benefit.

The caffeine content is said to be a trigger or stimulant. I could never eat chocolate once I began afib. Not a problem for me because I'm not a big fan of it.

However, in all fairness to chocolate, most likely my reaction came from the blood sugar spike and drop and the insulin response which put me in afib.... since anytime I had a reaction, it was always after a chocolate dessert type food. Undoubtedly sugar was more likely the culprit.

I still think it is a big stretch to call chocolate a health food. Better ways to get magnesium which is appparently the only true benefit.

Jackie

Part of the trigger of chocolate could be the "milk solids," i.e., casein, in forming the candy bar. Dark chocolate has less of that, I'm guessing.

You can make a great hot fudge sauce with baker's chocolate (no sugar), a little coconut oil, a little honey and a little vanilla flavoring. Melt altogether in a pan over low heat. Of course, now that I don't eat ice cream anymore, I don't have anything to put it on! Still getting ready to try making ice cream out of coconut milk, though. :-)

Merry Christmas everyone, by the way! And Solstice, and Kwanzaa and Chanukah and whatever else you celebrate this time of year! :-)

k

Kestra

That sounds delicious. Now I have to think what I can put it on for my xmas pudding. My staple pudding to date has been mixed nuts and seeds with pure maple syrup drizzled on top. The protein and the fat in the nuts and seeds stop the sugar surge.

Fran

I've never found chocolate a problem.....even though i had cut down........

Now been told my Cholestrol is high (result is HLD 1.57 and LDL is 4.26) so i'm now on Lecithin to reduce it with my GP's blessing. He said he is all for alternatives now. As taking Statins can be a risk apart from the fact..........i have excrutiating joint/muscle pain and pain killers arn't helping so taking suppliments for Inflamation Joints. (that result was ESR 14 normal would be between 2-10) no wonder i'm in agony. The Doctor i saw few weeks ago didn't even bother telling me that.

I will have another Blood Test 2-3 months time , also test for Thyroid. My GP has already given me the form so i wont have to go back to him.

Happy Holdiays

Babs

Will,

With the sugar content aside, it is my belief that the reason chocolate bothers some is because of tyramines. (See conf room) The liver has to process tyramines, just as it does grapefruit, drugs, and a multitude of other things, such as sulfites in wines or foods. If the liver's pathway for processing tyramines is depressed or nonexistent, then the toxicity levels are much higher to the person lacking this enzyme/s, because the liver did not metabolize them. This leaves tyramines at much higher levels in the bloodstream. If one has problems with sulfites in wines, then their sulfation process is a problem. They are lacking or seriously low in the sulfite oxidase enzyme in the liver, which is molybdenum dependent. Sulfites bother me, but chocolate does not, and come to find out, I was extremely low in molybdenum. You can learn about your body, by what your triggers are, by following its pathway through the liver.

Richard