RESEARCH - Got a cough? Try eating some chocolate

November 26, 2004

Got a cough? Try eating some chocolate

Filed: 25/11/2004

Eating chocolate could be a better way of stopping persistent coughing

than anything available from the chemist's, according to new research.

Theobromine, an ingredient of cocoa, was found to be almost a third more

effective in preventing coughing than codeine - considered the best

available cough medicine.

Researchers also found that it did not cause any of the potential

side-effects of cough treatments, such as drowsiness, headaches or

insomnia. Ten healthy volunteers were given theobromine, codeine or a

placebo pill, not knowing which they were taking. They then took

capsaicin, used to stimulate coughing.

Those given theobromine needed around a third more capsaicin to make

them cough compared with the placebo group. When they were given codeine

they needed only marginally higher levels of capsaicin to cause a cough

than with the placebo.

Prof , the head of respiratory medicine at Imperial College

London, said: " We have very poor cough medicines. There is a need for

new treatments. "

An estimated £100 million is spent on cough medicines in Britain each

year.

The researchers, writing in the online journal of the Federation of

American Societies for Experimental Biology, said theobromine suppressed

the activity of the vagus nerve which is responsible for causing

coughing.

Prof Belvisi, of Imperial College London and Royal Brompton

Hospital, said: " With theobromine having no demonstrated side-effects it

may be possible to give far bigger doses, further increasing its

effectiveness. "

Dame Helena Shovelton, the chief executive of the British Lung

Foundation, said: " The results of this research sound very promising. "

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I'll tell you where to go!

Mayo Clinic in Rochester

s Hopkins Medicine

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