Chocolate: the new cough sweet

[Anisa]

GOOD NEWS GIRLS!

Chocolate could be used to stop persistent coughs and may even lead to more effective medicines, say scientists.

Cocoa contains a derivative called theobromine which was found to be more effective in stopping persistent coughs than the leading medicine codeine.

It produces fewer side effects than conventional treatment and will not leave people drowsy, say scientists


Imperial College London. Their study, which also involved London's Royal Brompton Hospital and St Bartholomew's Hospital, saw ten healthy volunteers given theobromine, a placebo or codeine before exposing them to a substance called capsaicin that causes coughing.

The concentration of capsaicin needed to induce coughing in those given theobromine was nearly a third higher compared with the group receiving a placebo.

When given codeine, the group only needed marginally higher levels of capsaicin.

'Coughing is a medical condition which affects most people at some point in their lives,' said Prof Peter Barnes, whose research is published in FASEB online journal.

'This discovery could be a huge step forward.'