Chocolate plea gets 1,500 replies

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An appeal for volunteers to help researchers see how dark chocolate might help fight disease has attracted 1,500 responses worldwide in a day.

The scientists in Aberdeen aim to assess how flavonoids, found naturally in cocoa, could fend off heart disease.

Thursday's BBC Scotland news website story had more than 200,000 hits, and researchers said it sparked replies from as far afield as America.

Forty volunteers aged between 18 and 70 will be selected to take part.

They will be asked to eat a cocoa-rich dark chocolate specially made for the study, standard chocolate, or white chocolate.

'Really overwhelmed'

Dr Baukje de Roos, principal investigator from the University of Aberdeen Rowett Institute of Nutrition and Health, said: "We did not expect so much attention, we have been really overwhelmed by the very positive response.

"BBC online was the first to come out and most people reacted to that.

"So far we received over 1,500 e-mails and phone calls from people interested."

She explained: "There was interest from the USA, as well as all over Scotland and England. We will look at people in Aberdeen first."

Urine and blood samples will be taken to assess the impact the compounds have on blood function.

Cardiovascular disease is one of the main causes of death in the UK.