Chocolate ‘Could Cure Cough’

14 Jan 2016
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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