Chocolate to relieve chronic cough

Chocolate for health benefits have long been known. One of the properties that are scientifically proven to help relieve cough.

Recent research suggests that chocolate experts may be an option for those who suffer from persistent cough. A compound in chocolate called theobromine is effective in reducing cough symptoms both acute and chronic in nature.

Previous research at the National Heart and Lung Institute UK showed that theobromine is even more effective than codeine, a drug widely used in counteracting the action of sensory nerves that trigger cough reflex.

In the new research presented at the British Thoracic Society's in London some time ago, the researchers monitored some 300 people suffering from chronic cough in 13 hospitals in England. Then they give the patient a dose of theobromine twice daily for two weeks. The study found that 60 percent of the patients in this study experienced a sense of relief after taking theobromine.

Although this is good news, but the researchers noted chocolate can not cure because they found that the symptoms come back after treatment ends.

Chronic cough is a cough that lasts eight weeks or more. Some of the symptoms of chronic cough include difficulty sleeping, chest muscles pain, and urine leakage. In severe cases, chronic cough can lead to vomiting, mild rib fractures.

According to the Mayo Clinic the exact cause of the condition is sometimes difficult to determine, but the most common causes of chronic cough are smoking, asthma and reflux of stomach acid, which can irritate a person's throat. Experts say that the new chronic cough can be lost when the main cause healed.

In the study, the participants were given a dose of 1,000 mg of theobromine. In fact, one ounce unsweetened dark chocolate contains 450 mg theobromine, while dark chocolate contains 150 mg of sweetener, whereas milk chocolate is only 60mg. It can be used as a basis that eating a bar of dark chocolate every day provide a sufficient intake of theobromine to relieve chronic cough.

By Alyn Morice, head of Hull Cough Clinic, and chairman of the study, "This is a very effective drug. Yet with consuming chocolate in a long time to give another unwanted effects such as weight gain, and so on."