A number of small studies have linked cocoa flavanols to lower risks of heart disease, hypertension, stroke and diabetes. These studies are sufficiently compelling that the National Institutes of Health is co-funding a massive study of cocoa flavanols that will kick off in early 2015. JoAnn Manson, Michael and Lee Bell Professor of Women’s Health at Brigham and Women’s Hospital, and Howard Sesso, associate professor of medicine at Brigham and Women’s Hospital, will be co-directing the study.
