A Chemical Found In Chocolate Is Found To Be Effective In Treating Coughs

Chocolate can cure coughs and is more effective for reducing the hacking cough than the over-the-counter cough medicines, according to Professor Alyn Morice, the head of the cardiovascular and respiratory studies at the University of Hull.

Pure Wow.com reports that a study involved patients who took a novel medicine that contains cocoa and also took a cough syrup. The outcome shows that patients who took the medicines with cocoa ingredient were improved in their coughs in two days.

Science Daily reports another study that was conducted at the Imperial College of London. It shows that the cocoa has alkaloids that are good in suppressing the cough than the Codeine which is the compound used in cough medicines.

"Coughing is a medical condition which affects most people at some point in their lives, and yet no effective treatment exists. While persistent coughing is not necessarily harmful it can have a major impact on quality life, and this discovery could be a huge step found in treating this problem," Professor Peter Barnes, one of the authors of the study at Imperial College of London and Royal Brompton Hospital, said.

The study involved 10 healthy volunteers whom they were given codeine and Theobromine at various times in an unplanned double-blind trial. Theobromine is a derivative that is present in cocoa.

The researchers compared the effectiveness of the Theobromine and codeine and measured the rates of capsaicin which is used as the indicator to test the efficacy of cough medicines.

They found out that those volunteers who were given Theobromine -- the capsaicin that produces a cough was about one-third higher in stopping persistent coughs compared with codeine. The Theobromine suppresses the vague nerve activity in which it is responsible for causing coughs. It also has no harmful effects on the central nervous and cardiovascular systems.

"Not only did Theobromine prove more effective than codeine, at the doses used it was found to have none of the side effects. Normally the effectiveness of any treatment is limited by the dosage you can give someone," Professor Maria Belvisi, co-author of the study at Imperial College of London and Royal Brompton Hospital, explained. "With Theobromine having no demonstrated side effects in this study, it may be possible to give far bigger doses further increasing its effectiveness."