Chocolate as a Cough Remedy? Expert Says Cocoa is the Best Treatment

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There are plenty of home remedies or nonpharmaceutical treatments to alleviate and soothe a nasty cough. Honey and lemon, ginger, turmeric, milk and almonds are just some of the recommendations. However, a latest study revealed that chocolate can also be just as effective as these items.

Professor Alyn Morice from the University of Hull stated in her piece on the Daily Mail that a regular chocolate bar proved effective in suppressing cough. She came to the conclusion following a trial of a cough medicine that makes use of cocoa as the ingredient.

"We have just seen the results of the largest real-world study of an over-the-counter cough remedy ever undertaken in Europe. This proves that a new medicine which contains cocoa is better than a standard linctus," she wrote.

Morice further stated that the randomized research called ROCOCO involved 163 patients but the complete findings have yet to be published in a medical journal. However, one interesting facet of their research showed that patients who took the medicine for cough experienced less coughing episodes and sleep disruption. "Twice as many patients taking it were able to stop treatment early because their cough had cleared," Morice said.

This is not the first time chocolate has been suggested as cough treatment since previous studies done in 2004 indicated that cocoa's chemical theobromine component can work with persistent cough. "Not only did theobromine prove more effective than codeine, at the doses used it was found to have none of the side effects," said study author Maria Belvisi per BBC. Codeine is an ingredient common in many cough medicines, per Good Housekeeping.

However, Morice advised that drinking hot chocolate might not bring the same effect. "The cocoa isn't in contact with the throat long enough to form a protective coating."

Morice was also part of another study on chocolate as cough medicine back in 2012, before the actual medicine was developed. Participants were given 1,000 mg of theobromine from unsweetened dark chocolate bar, per Medical Daily. "Eating a bar of dark chocolate a day which has high levels of the compound may also be effective for people with diagnosed persistent cough," Morice said back then.

With the medicine still on trial, it's unclear when this will be available in drugstores once it finally gets approval. However, should you find yourself with cough and looking to go with a more natural remedy, Morice suggested "slowly sucking on a piece of chocolate" for relief.