I have had afib for 30+ years now and I should know better. I googled afib and dark chocolate which I know is a NO_NO as it has always caused me to go into afib, but I was reading a study from a supposed Dr. who said dark chocolate can help prevent afib episodes. I knew this to be not true but guess what I did because I need to know, maybe they have come upon a new discovery. I went out and bought a bag of Ghirardelli dark chocolate assortment and had during the day four small squares of them. Around 7: 30 PM that same day I felt in the middle of my chest fluttering and dis-comfort and breathlessness and said am I having a heart attack? So I got my oximeter out took a reading it was 94 and went up to 119BPM. I knew I was in afib and it really upset me but was not surprised and now I know for certain which I already knew that dark chocolate cannot prevent an afib episode in fact it usually exacerbates one. The article I read is the kind of false information being allowed to be put on the internet. My point is don't believe everything you read on the internet it's not all true.
Mis-Information on Internet. BE CAREFUL - Atrial Fibrillati...
Mis-Information on Internet. BE CAREFUL
Congratulations for being brave to experiment! I often do the same! If we don't test it, we will never know!
30+ years you'd think I had learned my lesson but I guess not. At lease the episode only lasted about an hour. Thank You
My field of experimenting was wine, lol. I had very early realized that wine is a NO-NO for me, but refused to accept the fact. Every two or three months, especially during the winter, I would bring my earlier results under the question mark and would repeat the testing.
Strangely, in the first couple of days, it would seem that there is no problem with wine, but later, the result would always be the same - cramp between the shoulder-blades, PVCs, anything... It really is interesting, but I can stand the beer and brandy without much trouble. So, I stick to the beer (4-6 0,5 l bottles are fine, no problems at all).
But here something that may be interesting for others too - in my opinion, the influence of any food is far less than the influence of exercise. Almost all of us here are or were long term joggers or similar, so it may be the main cause for developing and maintaining the arrhythmia. There is also the addiction in it, and a very strong one. People sometimes hope to get back to exercise only a week after their ablation is done...
I could agree with that, when I had race horses and retired them from the where all their life they were trained at certain times to run as fast as they could, well I tried riding one of them and I was never so scared in a long time as he was just walking fine and then all of a sudden took off and I couldn't get him to slow down or stop, he was running through bushes in the field and I thought if he threw me I was going to be hurt bad. That could be like the heart is in afib it becomes accustomed to when in training or exertion if done regularly it senses that it should react and send more signals out, hence afib. Just an observation not a medical evaluation.
very good point - again it’s lack of knowledge about over exercising & safe de-training and factoring in recovery time.
Pushing too hard causes inflammatory response - exactly as food & beverages can.
Interesting ....only very bold red wines are problem for me and thank goodness not dark chocolate!!!. It just shows the unique individuality of this wretched albatross we all bear .
I must stick to Organic red wine and not anything from the USA especially California wines. I have to have Italian or South African wine as they use a different yeast that doesn’t allow the wine to become too strong. They also don’t irrigate the vines which allows the roots to go deep and stronger. California uses way too many pesticides. Even at that I am careful at how much to drink.
That's interesting approach, there really are many factors of influence! I mainly use domestic made wines, from to me known producers, to whom I can trust. They swore to add only a smallest possible quantity of preservatives (which must be added to make the wine last longer). But, these preservatives are chemicals which, what should be normal, act similar to drugs, alcohol, food additives, artificial sweeteners etc. In any case, they disturb heart rhythm and make problems. Thank God for the beer !
Dark chocolate doesn’t contain as much sugar as milk chocolate but it still contains sugar, anyone with afib that consumes sugar which of course boosts adrenaline will more than likely send them into afib. Some people of course can tolerate a little sugar without sending them into afib. This is why it is such a random condition. I too have read that dark chocolate is better for you than milk but the only reason for that is it contains less sugar. I hope I have not given any misinformation 😁
I think you are "spot on", and I won't be trying many things I read on the internet anymore, you'd think after 30+ years living with afib I would've realized this; that everyone is different and our bodies all react differently. Thank You
Dark chocolate is a Powerful source of antioxidants. ... May improve blood flow and lower blood pressure. ... Raises HDL and protects LDL from oxidation. ..but it also has 80 mg caffeine per 100 grammes!!.
What you say may apply to you but as dark chocolate ie: more than 70% cocoa solids is full of polyphenols and so can have an anti inflammatory effect I would agree that it could help.
We are all so individual there are no absolutes and as doctors have opinions and biases there is little consensus on what does or does not help. I drink coffee, eat dark chocolate with no AF consequences. Touch sugar however - cakes, biscuits added sugar in any form or artificial sweetness - it is likely to cause an inflammatory response resulting in heart disturbance.
I’ve never come across Gheraldi chocolate and was trying to get the ingredient list because if it contained certain stabilisers, according to my nutritionist that would cause an inflammatory response.
I disagree with your title and would say that although there is misinformation and downright lies on the internet and you do need to be very careful the study you read may not have been misleading and you will find in medical literature lots of conflicting and contradictory advice so one study will say this is good and another not it’s not and this applies to drug treatments as well as foods.
I agree with Nesko - you tried and it seems the chocolate you tried is an antagonist for you but that doesn’t mean to say it is for me - I eat 2-4 squares of unadulterated dark chocolate daily and much better for me than bread, cake or biscuits.
It would be helpful if you posted the link of the study so people could judge for themselves.
Thank You for very precise reply and I agree with you 100%. There are several reports on this subject on the internet. "by putting in dark chocolate and afib" you will see a lot of them appear. Knowing this has been a trigger for me after reading I thought I would try it out again and see what happens, fortunately for me the episode only about an hour.
Totally agree, CDreamer. Interestingly, my EP brought up the subject and recommended a small amount of dark chocolate a day.
I must be lucky as dark chocolate and red wine are my guilty pleasures and don't affect my afib
Yes, these two are fine for me too. Spice is also fine. The only known trigger for myself is viruses & mental stress. I do think it’s important to try things out though as it’s a very different condition from one person to the next & you could be in danger of sucking many pleasures out of life by cutting out triggers that don’t apply to you….
I read your repose with much interest as my cardiologist said to avoid dark chocolate, alcohol, tea and coffee which I have done but he never mentioned bread, cake or biscuits. Are these items other Afibbers have found a trigger?
Yes, I have! Sugary things and carbohydrates can set me off. Mainly, though, I find quantity will do it, regardless of what I'm eating so if I've eaten a larger meal than I'm used to and finish with a pudding I can guarantee AF which will go on for quite a while. If I just have a cake or a few biscuits, I may get some palpitations and then AF for a short while. Fudge is guaranteed to set it off! It's almost pure sugar!
xx Moy
I can eat dark chocolate in moderation without it provoking an afib attack - even things like dark chocolate liquers and coated orange confit slices . But mincemeat in even very small amounts always sets me off - it must be the extreme sweetness. I don't eat biscuits or shop cakes and when I bake I always reduce the amount of sugar in the recipe and substitute ground almonds / grated coconut / polenta for most of the white flour . I find this avoids the heavy texture wholemeal flour can give to cakes. Polenta gives a good texture .
CDreamer, I am wondering if when you say cakes and biscuits that you also have a problem with gluten. Some articles recently listed the 4 most horrible things for our health. Sugar, gluten, refine flour and MSG. On the subject of MSG another article I read suggested it’s not the villain it has been made out to be. Going along with kokoach, you can’t believe everything you read. This article was suggesting the USAs FDA is looking to replace salt with MSG. That will absolutely destroy 25% of the population including me. UGH!
Thankfully I don’t live in US! Salt is essential for balancing electrolytes.
Of course you need to be careful about what you read and where you read it and especially in magazines as companies are very clever at dressing adverts to look as though they are articles.
No I don’t have a problem with gluten, although I did go gluten fee for over a year - not an easy thing to do. Didn’t make any difference but cutting out milk did. Sugar and dairy is far more problematic for me so presently I am cutting out all milk - tiny amounts of cheese once a week is OK, same with butter. My sister is highly allergic to all dairy
Interested in your post on Watermelon - I eat that regularly as it is the one food which is completely Ph neutral so when I am ill I make a smoothie from it as it’s the only thing I can take but the last thing I need is dilating my blood vessels as I am Hypo with low BP so I may need to rethink that one. Everything seems to be slanted toward people who have high BP and high HR, again we are all different which is why listening and knowing our own body is paramount.
We are all designed to need different things and therefore react differently - process of natural selection to give the best chance species survival.
I always found it incredibly difficult when eating out to find what I call ‘real’ food in US - except in Santa Barbara who do have a bunch of natural markets. My general rules for eating:-
Fresh and organic and cook from scratch whenever possible
Avoid all ultra processed foods and limit processed foods
If anything has more than 5 ingredients it doesn’t go in me
I always take at least 6g of sea salt of Himaylan Pink Salt for the mineral contact and MSG is the worst antagonist!
Thankfully Lifestyle Medicine is starting to catch on!
Just because it affected you does not mean it does everybody. It is correct that it can be beneficial for some but then you already knew it wasn't good for you!
I once bought some of the highest cocoa content dark chocolate. It was so horrible tasting I would never buy it again!! Don't blame you though, if you don't try you don't know.
With 30+ years of afib and knowing this was a trigger after reading these Drs. reports I said maybe something new has transpired in the treatment of afib, hence I tried and no it is the same for me. There went $12 down the drain.
hahaha, I’ve been there. One of the lads brought some into work. I think I drank about a gallon of squash after one square of the stuff. One lad stepped up & told us all he’d polish off the bar & questioned our masculinity - I’ve never seen him look so pained as eating that 😂😂. I’m convinced if left out unwrapped it’d soon have drawn all the moisture out of the room… I think it must really be more of an ingredient than something to enjoy as it is?
At our local de luxe chocolate shop they have a 99% cocoa solid dark chocolate which is odd to eat. The French call it "épaisse dans la bouche" which literally means "thick in the mouth" and is a good description. I am not keen on it and prefer the 85% or 90%.
I have diabetes as well as Afib and as a treat i occasionally have a sugarless chocolate bar which seemed to cause no dramas for me at least they taste good some of them..
I gave up drinking coffee though i used to have about 6 cups or more a day..
It seems as though you realize that most of your triggers are food related like mine are. You'd think after 30+ years I'd stick to an eating regimen but I enjoy food so a lot of times I venture back and do things I used to do when in NSR but when I do it is right there again and tells me NO,NO you can't do this.
The problem with afib is that the triggers are different for everyone. I can eat any type of chocolate and never have an attack. I can also drink alcohol (lots) with no problems. I can't work out what my trigger is.
Afib is a weird bird. I’m 4 days in from an ablation. Just starting to feel a little better. As for my triggers, it seems to be a little bird in the sky that turns a switch on or off to start and stop my afib. There is literally no rhyme or reason when mine starts or stops. I can have it for 5 minutes or 15 hours. I can have it every other day for a week or once every 3 weeks. I can drink wine, have chocolates and salty crackers with no effect one day, but have the same (even less) the next day and go into complete afib. Hopefully this ablation helps out. Cheers
You're so right and I'm praying your ablation keeps you in NSR for years and years.
As others have said, it’s not misinformation, personally I can eat as much sugar and chocolate I can cram in without any negative effects at all and thank heavens for that because I’m a chocoholic! But I know others who cannot tolerate either, so we just have to know what we can and can’t consume and it will be different for everyone.
I'm the same Bantam. Actually I've not found any food triggers at all. I do keep drinks caffeine free but on the odd occasion I've had caffeine. Nothing has happened. I'm a bit of a sugar head.... It definately does not affect me. My Afib is random... Ive naot found any particular food connections except for high levels of stress. That does affect my Afib.
There is a song by Kathy Mattea called “Chocolate on my Tounge”. Go to you tube and find it I think you will get a kick out of it. A line in the song says “if I die young at least I have some chocolate on my tongue”. Made me laugh.
30 + years of afib and I was always told no caffeine, no chocolate (caffeine), no histamines and so on so when I read these articles from a few Drs. it just threw me and I had to try it out but alas when I did afib reared it's ugly head for about an hour. For me definitely no chocolate.
Dark chocolate has a very high level of caffeine. So a couple of squares might not seem much but in high grade dark chocolate it is. . I once ate a small bar of high grade dark chocolate (, pre Afib days) and my heart raced so fast kept me awake most of the night. Given for years I've never had much caffeine as I've always avoided it....even before Afib My poor body couldn't cope. Pretty sure it would be the caffeine that triggered you off.
Sugar in any quantity is poison to me. But dark chocolate is good. I have a teaspoon of raw cacao powder in my porridge once or twice a week, sweetened with ground almonds and topped with peanut butter - it makes a grand “snickers porridge”! There are no prescriptions for the soul, but if there was for me it would have to be a couple of squares of the 70% fair trade dark choc. Crikey, maybe that's why my Afib is persistent!!!
I'm the opposite, I eat some dark chocolate every night with no problems. It is the 74% one though not a cheap, sugary one.
As a general rule, I would say don't believe 75% of what you read on the Internet particularly pertaining to health1. I only read the research papers published by top universities and then do not take them as gospel!
So true even those ones can be biased... Depends whose funded the research and what the criteria is.... Lol...
I have no problems with dark chocolate. It is a known anti-inflammatory which I was advised to eat when I had Polymyalgia Rheumatica. I still eat dark chocolate at 85% or higher cocoa matter.
I seem to be OK with 100% chocolate - haven't tried choc with sugar since I got AF. But cured meat sets off ectopics for me. And steroids were my original trigger - put me into rapid AF which became persistent until a cardioversion. Is it a case of different triggers for different people?
All I can say is: Thank goodness I don't like chocolate!
Never has affected my AF except to help improve it. Been eating it for years and I'm 79 now. I eat 100%
All the best.
Roy MacDonald
ANY doctor or layperson that would say with "absolute certainty" that "A" is an afib trigger, or "B" prevents afib is speaking irresponsibly!
A trigger for John may well be a pleasure for Joe. There are no absolute rules! Similarly, claims of afib "prevention" for something oft leads to disappointment when the beast strikes again! Very difficult to isolate specific preventive measures for a usually very intermittent problem.
Here's a link that should explain it as you say.
Will eating chocolate reduce your risk of atrial fibrillation?
British Heart Foundation
bhf.org.uk › news › behind-the-headlines
All of us are different and likewise with our reaction to dark chocolate and AF. As part of the many lifestyle changes I have made over 10 years, I cut it out. Recently, because it has many good properties and caffeine to strengthen the heart beat I have reintroduced a little before 1pm. So far so good 🤞.
Are you on any meds for AFIB? They gave me Multqa made me dizzy!
A lot of what is on the internet is just fluffy rubbish. Unless this was a published study in a reputable scientific journal (and I suspect it wasn’t) then you shouldn’t take it seriously in the first place. To my knowledge, dark chocolate on prescription for people with AF isn’t a thing.
Is it or isn’t it misinformation? Without seeing the article it’s impossible to say but it seems more like a puff piece than a piece of scientific research. If anyone has a link to a trial of AF patients who were given dark chocolate to see if it prevented/increased AF alongside a control group, please post the link.
Dark chocolate or not for AF? It’s clear that some people have specific triggers that don’t affect other people at all. We’re all individuals. Dark chocolate contains polyphenols but if you can’t eat it, get your polyphenols from the fruit and veg of your choice.
Will eating chocolate reduce your risk of atrial fibrillation?
British Heart Foundation
bhf.org.uk › news › behind-the-headlines
Here's the link
OK, I found the article on the Danish study
bhf.org.uk/informationsuppo...
Firstly and most importantly it says
“People who previously had AF or cancer, or who hadn’t provided adequate information on their chocolate consumption, were not included in the study.”
It appears that it’s a prospective cohort study ie taking a population of people and observing their health outcomes at a later point in the future. So it appears that people who ate dark chocolate had a reduced risk of developing AF during the study period.
So…. it’s not the same as people with AF eating chocolate in order to prevent getting an episode or AF.
Nor is it the same thing as people who eat dark chocolate becoming immune to developing AF later in life. Reduced risk does not equal zero risk.
We’re all adults here with some degree of education, so I think it’s fair to assume that we all know that AF isn’t caused by chocolate, or a lack of chocolate. And we all know that chocolate doesn’t treat AF, prevent AF episodes from happening and neither is a lack of chocolate in the diet going to predispose us to AF in the first place. It’s way more complicated than that.
So eat it if you like it. But don’t eat it if it sets off your AF. Is it “misinformation”? No. It’s a study of a large number of people and what may be statistically significant at a population level is not necessarily applicable to individuals with pre existing conditions.
Unfortunately I'm one of the unlucky ones that can't eat it. Thank You
It’s not much fun when you have to give up something that sets you off 😢
Especially when it can be very good for you.
That's interesting. Provided I have two small squares of dark chocolate with very little sugar I'm ok. I can also cope with one coffee a day, preferably in the morning. Not drunk alcohol for a few years as that can't but not always sets off afib. One of my triggers is stress,fairly difficult to avoid but I do yoga and exercise a lot! I was diagnosed in September 2019 with PAF.
Sorry should read CAN set off AF
dark chocolate also contains Magnesium which in some forms is said to help regulate heart rhythm. The brand you mentioned was likely full of sugar. It is recommended at high percentage of dark chocolate (bitter taste) to get good benefits. Too much sugar in dark chocolate likely negates any health benefit as sugar causes inflammation.
Great observation. Thank You SUGAR is a NO - NO
It is so true that we are all different, and so are our triggers. I can drink two beers on the weekends and seem to get away unscathed. Wine - not so much! And dark chocolate seems to have no effect. I gave up caffeine without much trouble, so I have stayed off of it. None of my cardiac docs have cautioned me against any food or drink. I guess they realize that it is a matter of an individual's constitution!
Need some guidance
Atrial flutter Not Afib
Kardia query....
I'm loosing the will to carry on!!!
