Eating chocolate could be more effective than sucking a
lozenge at treating coughs, say doctors. An ingredient in chocolate may
provide sweet relief from constant coughing.
The study showed that theobromine, an
ingredient found in cocoa, was much more effective in stopping persistent
coughs than codeine – the cough medicines currently considered
most effective.
Theobromine works by suppressing vagus
nerve activity, which is responsible for causing coughing.
The team also discovered that unlike
standard cough treatments, theobromine caused no adverse effects on either the
cardiovascular or central nervous systems.
Professor Maria Belvisi, who also
worked on the study, said: "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.
"With theobromine having no
demonstrated side effects in this study it may be possible to give far bigger
doses, further increasing its effectiveness.
"At the same time, theobromine
may not have any of the side effects such as drowsiness. This means there will
be no restrictions on when it can be taken.
"For example, people using heavy
machinery or who are driving should not take codeine, but they could take
theobromine"
Although this was a small study
involving only 10 people, researchers say that if more studies confirm these
results, the chocolate ingredient could be used in creating
better cough medicines with fewer
side effects than existing drugs.
Principal investigator Professor Alyn
Morice, head of the Hull Cough Clinic, says: ‘This new capsule we are using
seems very effective. ‘Eating a bar of dark chocolate a day which has high
levels of the compound may also be effective for people with diagnosed
persistent cough, although eating chocolate on a daily basis may have
other unwanted effects, including weight gain and so on.’
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