Hard to believe, but fortunately true: researchers were able to show in a study that chocolate can relieve coughs in a gentle (and tasty!) Way.
There are plenty of home remedies for coughs. But after this one, even the enchanted nanny Mary Poppins would be completely crazy: A small study with 163 subjects has shown that cocoa-based medicines can better relieve coughs in a short time compared to regular medicines. According to this, the annoying cough among the participants was already reduced within two days. And in comparison, the patients with the cocoa medicine were able to end the treatment prematurely because their cough had subsided.
Who needs thyme when they can have chocolate?
Professor Alyn Moore, who works at the University of Hull, Yorkshire, seems to be surprised by the results himself. "I know this sounds like Mary Poppins. But as an independent scientist who has been researching the mechanisms of cough for years, I can confirm the results are solid," said Moore at the Daily Mail. The expert recommends slowly sucking a piece of chocolate with a high cocoa content, to relieve discomfort. Moore intends to publish the study results in a specialist magazine over the next twelve months.
However, this is not the first study to show that chocolate can help with coughs. London researchers had previously discovered that the so-called alkaloid theobromine in cocoa can suppress the urge to cough. Better than codeine, the drug that is often used in cough suppressants.
Mainly sticky?
Scientists suspect that the cause is that chocolate is stickier and more viscous than cough medication. This is supposed to get in the throat form a kind of coating over the nerve endings that would otherwise trigger the urge to cough. This assumption is supported by the fact that honey and syrup have a similar consistency and can also help with a throat irritation – but not as effectively as chocolate, as Moore emphasizes.
Video tip: 6 reasons why chocolate is healthy