Compositions for, and methods of, anti-platelet therapy

#This application is a continuation application of U.S. Ser. No. 09/459,171, filed Dec. 10, 1999, (now U.S. Pat. No. 6,747,059), which is a continuation-in-part application of U.S. Ser. No. 08/831,245 filed Apr. 2, 1997, now U.S. Pat. No. 6,297,273, which is a continuation-in-part application of abandoned U.S. Ser. No. 08/631,661 filed Apr. 2, 1996 now abandoned. The application Ser. Nos. 09/459,171 and 08/631,661 are hereby incorporated herein by reference.

#This invention relates to medical and nutritional uses of extracts and products containing cocoa polyphenols including cocoa procyanidins.

#Polyphenols are an incredibly diverse group of compounds (Ferriera et al., ‘Diversity of Structure and Function in Oligomeric Flavanoids, Tetrahedron, 48:10, 1743–1803, 1992). They widely occur in a variety of plants, some of which enter into the food chain. In some cases they represent an important class of compounds for the human diet. Although some of the polyphenols are considered to be non-nutritive, interest in these compounds has arisen because of their possible beneficial effects on health.

#The following Detailed Description will be better understood by reference to the accompanying drawings wherein:

#FIG. 1 shows a purification scheme for the isolation of procyanidins from cocoa.

#FIG. 2a–c is a schematic diagram showing the relationship between the biological activity of the cocoa polyphenols and their utility in the prevention of coronary heart disease.

#Monomers comprising procyanidins have the structure:

#Procyanidins include those found in cocoa beans obtained from Theobroma cacao and various related cocoa species, as well as the genus Herrania and their inter- and intra-genetic crosses.

#Monomers comprising procyanidins include (+)-catechin, (−)-epicatechin and their respective epimers (e.g. (−)-catechin and (+)-epicatechin).