Choc tactics to cure coughs

Dan Buckley

The way to keep a healthy heart or cure that nasty cough is to munch on a bar of chocolate.

Eating chocolate could be a better way to stop persistent coughing than anything from a chemist, according to new research. Earlier studies found it could be as good as aspirin at preventing heart attacks.

Theobromine, an ingredient of cocoa, was almost a third more effective in preventing coughing than codeine - the best available cough medicine.

Researchers also found it did not cause any of the potential side-effects of cough treatments, such as drowsiness or headaches.

Ten healthy volunteers were given theobromine, codeine or a placebo pill, not knowing which they were taking. They then took capsaicin, used to stimulate coughing.

Those given theobromine needed around a third more capsaicin than the placebo group. When they were given codeine they needed marginally higher levels of capsaicin to cause a cough than with the placebo.

The researchers, writing in the online journal of the Federation of American Societies for Experimental Biology, said theobromine suppressed the activity of the vagus nerve, which causes coughing.

The study confirms the results of previous research by the National Heart and Lung Institute at Imperial College, London, which also found theobromine was better at preventing coughing than codeine.

The case for chocolate as a medicine was made three years ago when it was found that long-haul passengers benefited from eating dark chocolate.

Plain chocolate could help prevent deep vein thrombosis, the so-called “economy class syndrome”, the British Association for the Advancement of Science was told.

Chocolate’s heart health benefits appear to be linked to cocoa flavonoids, which occur naturally.

“Eating chocolate rich in flavonoids ... may contribute to a lower risk of blood clots,” said Carl Keen, Professor of Nutrition and Internal Medicine at the University of California.