Cocoa Flavanols and Blood pressure: what the evidence supports
Each entry’s own grades, side by side. A grade says how strong the evidence is for one outcome — it does not rank one entry over the other.
Compound or practice
Cocoa Flavanols
The flavanols in cocoa genuinely improve blood-vessel function and modestly lower blood pressure — the sugar is the catch.
Grade B3 graded outcomesrevised Jul 10, 2026
A structured monograph in Prometheus's bundled library. Its grades are the monograph's own reading of the evidence, not a peer-reviewed review.
Outcome map
Blood pressure: what the evidence supports
14 graded interventions for blood pressure, ranked by strength of evidence.
Grade B14 graded outcomesrevised Jul 10, 2026
Assembled by the app from other entries in this library. It adds no evidence of its own — follow the links to the entries it draws on.
Graded in both
Outcomes are matched by name. Two entries can describe the same outcome in different words, so one listed further down may still be graded in the other.
No outcome has the same name in both entries. They may still overlap under different wording — read the two lists below.
Graded only in Cocoa Flavanols
- Endothelial function Moderate effectEvidence grade B
- Blood pressure Small effectEvidence grade B
- Cognition / brain blood flow Small effectEvidence grade C
Graded only in Blood pressure: what the evidence supports
- Magnesium Small effectEvidence grade B
- Potassium Moderate effectEvidence grade B
- L-Citrulline Small effectEvidence grade B
- Beetroot / Dietary Nitrate Small effectEvidence grade B
- Cocoa Flavanols Small effectEvidence grade B
- Hibiscus Moderate effectEvidence grade B
- Taurine Small effectEvidence grade C
- Quercetin Small effectEvidence grade C
- L-Arginine Small effectEvidence grade C
- Olive Leaf Extract Small effectEvidence grade C
- Pycnogenol (Pine Bark) Small effectEvidence grade C
- Grape Seed Extract Small effectEvidence grade C
- Nattokinase Small effectEvidence grade C
- Black Seed Oil (Nigella sativa) Small effectEvidence grade C
Conditions
Only in Cocoa Flavanols
- Hypertension May improveEvidence grade B
Only in Blood pressure: what the evidence supports
None.
What each entry says about the other
- Blood pressure: what the evidence supports’s entry · Goes with: Grade B
Both columns are read from the entries as they stand in this library. A comparison is not advice to take either one, and it is no substitute for a clinician who knows the person.