What Happens to Your Blood Pressure When You Combine Chocolate and Tea?

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Eating chocolate and drinking tea may be good for your cardiovascular health, according to new research. Specifically, a compound called flavan-3-ols found in chocolate and tea could help reduce blood pressure.

The meta-analysis, recently published in the European Journal of Preventive Cardiology, was a review of 145 randomized controlled trials (RCTs) examining how flavan-3-ols affect blood pressure.

The trials included data on 5,205 people, including those with and without cardiovascular disease, hypertension, and diabetes.

The researchers found flavan-3-ols to be beneficial in lowering blood pressure. This compound is also found in other foods besides tea and chocolate, such as grapes and apples.

“In people with elevated blood pressure or hypertension, the magnitude of blood pressure lowering was similar to what would be expected from blood pressure-lowering pills,” said Christian Heiss, FESC, FRCP, a professor of cardiovascular medicine at the University of Surrey and an author of the new report.

By contrast, “in people with low blood pressure, there was only a very low decrease in blood pressure,” Heiss added.

If you have high blood pressure, you'll likely need more than tea and chocolate to manage it, Kevin Park, RDN, a registered dietitian at Keck Medicine of USC, told Verywell.

“There needs to be lifestyle and dietary changes as well, but incorporating foods rich in flavan-3-ols into a balanced diet may provide greater benefits and positive changes for an individual’s blood pressure," he added.

According to Park, the study also had some limitations to consider.

“Single doses were used for the flavan-3-ol-rich foods, which makes it difficult to determine the direct relationship between dose and response,” he said. “These studies were funded by a for-profit tea company, which could potentially create bias in the results.”

To see the potential benefits of flavan-3-ols on blood pressure, you’d need to commit to adding them to your diet regularly.

“In order to see blood pressure improvement, the frequency of chocolate or tea consumption would require a longer period of consumption—about four to eight weeks, according to the study—to see benefits,” Park said.

Heiss said the average dose of flavan-3-ols the participants consumed was about 500 to 600 milligrams a day.

You could reach this with two to three cups of tea, one to two servings of dark chocolate, two to three tablespoons of cocoa powder, two to three apples, “or a mix of smaller amounts of these and together with other fruits like grapes, pears, and berries,” Heiss added.

If you have certain healthcare conditions, you should run it by your doctor before adding a daily serving of tea and chocolate to your routine.

According to new research, eating chocolate and drinking tea may be good for your blood pressure and cardiovascular health. This is because both contain flavan-3-ols, which are compounds that are good for heart health.

Lagou V, Greyling A, Ferruzzi MG, et al. Impact of flavan-3-ols on blood pressure and endothelial function in diverse populations: a systematic review and meta-analysis of randomized controlled trials. European Journal of Preventive Cardiology. Published online March 24, 2025:zwaf173.

By Maggie O'NeillO’Neill is a reporter who covers new medical research and addiction. She previously worked at SELF magazine and Health.com, and she was a 2020 fellow at the Association of Health Care Journalists.