THE EFFECT OF DARK CHOCOLATE CONSUMPTION ON INTRAOCULAR PRESSURE OF YOUNG ADULTS IN SANGO OTA, OGUN STATE, NIGERIA.

Onwukwe, N.A.*, Egere, E.U.**, Agbasi, N.S.*

                                 ABSTRACT

The study investigated the effect of dark chocolate consumption on the Intraocular Pressure (IOP) of young adults. Participants were volunteers of both sexes who visited Scorpio Eye Clinic Ogun State. A total number of 120 healthy individuals (60 males and 60 females), between the ages of 18-35 years old were involved in this study. Three initial IOP values were taken, when each subject entered the clinic, using a keeler non-contact pulsair tonometer and an average of these initial values was recorded as baseline IOP. Subsequently, IOPs were measured on both eyes, at an interval of 30mins each i.e 30mins, 60mins and 90mins after consumption of 10.5g of dark chocolate. A portion of the dark chocolate was cut and measured on the scale to ensure accurate amount of chocolate to be administered. A group of three consecutive readings with variation of less than 3mmgh was considered to be an acceptable result and averaged for analysis. An alpha level of 0.05 was used to detetmine statistical significance using SPSS program for Windows, (v16; SPSS Inc, Chicago, IL). Results from this study clearly showed that consuming 10.5g of dark chocolate has a significant decrease effect on the IOP of young adults. Similarly, intraocular pressure decrease was also gender dependent, as male subjects had more IOP decrease than female subjects. Results from the study will play important role in the management of patients with ocular hypertension and in glaucoma management in general.

Keywords: Intraocular Pressure, Dark chocolate, Ocular hypertension, Glaucoma.