Mars, the company that made its fortune satisfying chocolate cravings, unveiled plans yesterday to develop medications that use a component of cocoa to help treat diabetes, strokes and vascular disease.

　　The privately held US company that produces M&Ms and Mars bars said it hoped to make medications based on flavanols - plant chemicals with health benefits found in cocoa, as well as red wine and green tea.

　　Mars said it is in talks with large pharmaceutical companies for a licensing or joint venture agreement to reproduce the compounds in cocoa shown to improve blood flow.

　　"The mounting scientific evidence is extraordinary," said Dr Norm Hollenberg, a professor at Harvard Medical School, which has collaborated with Mars on cocoa research.

　　Hollenberg was chairing a seminar in Switzerland to discuss the newest research on cocoa's potential health benefits.

　　The specific cocoa flavanol molecules responsible for a blood-thinning aspirin-like effect have been identified for the first time, Mars said.

　　Two clinical trials have also found that cocoa flavanols can boost the flow of blood to key areas of the brain, raising the possibility of treatments for dementia and strokes.

　　(Reuters)