Chocolate may be the way to a person's heart in more ways than ever dreamed. Researchers at the University of California, Davis, have found that chocolate carries high levels of chemicals known as phenolics, some of which are thought to help lower the risk of coronary heart disease by preventing fatlike substances in the bloodstream from "oxidizing" and clogging the arteries. The findings are reported in a letter to the editor in the Sept. 21 issue of The Lancet, a British medical journal. "This study shows that chocolate can contribute a significant portion of dietary antioxidants," said lead researcher Andrew Waterhouse, assistant professor of viticulture and enology. "However, it remains to be seen whether phenolics consumed in food products actually provide a protective antioxidant effect in the body." Waterhouse, a wine chemist, has been studying the possible health benefits of antioxidant phenolics found in red wine for several years. The chemical process of oxidation is now thought to damage substances in the blood known as low-density lipoproteins or LDLs. This action eventually leads to a fatty buildup -- called plaque -- clogging the arteries. Such clogging and also clotting in human arteries are major causes of often fatal heart attacks. Certain phenolics have long been known to exist in chocolate, preventing the fat in chocolate from becoming rancid. Waterhouse and colleagues were interested in finding out how powerful the antioxidant effect of those phenolics might be in inhibiting LDL oxidation. In laboratory experiments they measured the amount of phenolics in cocoa powder, baker's chocolate and milk chocolate. Then they measured the extent to which cocoa powder extract inhibited oxidation of LDL drawn from human blood. They found that a 1.5 ounce piece of milk chocolate contained nearly the same amount of phenolics as a 5 ounce glass of red wine. And the phenolic compounds in chocolate exhibited an antioxidant effect equal to or greater than that of red wine. "We still need to know if the different chemical structures of chocolate phenolics versus wine phenolics alter their effects on the body," Waterhouse said. "We certainly aren't suggesting that people start eating more chocolate to prevent coronary heart disease," he stressed. "The results of this study simply indicate that if dietary phenolics do act as antioxidants in the body, then chocolate would likely be a good source of those antioxidants."