How does raw chocolate reduce high blood pressure?

Nutrients within the Cacao plant reduce LDL cholesterol amounts. When that LDL cholesterol has gone, your blood has more room, your body decides it's time to stop producing it, and your blood pressure drops. There are also other reasons. One such reason relates to the methylxanthine 'Theobromine' present in the Cacao fruit, but I won't go into detail about that.

If you're going to eat chocolate for health and pleasure, make SURE it's (in this order):

1: Dark.
2: Organic.
3: Low in sugar.
4: Raw.

And, if you're conscious about the environment, many brands of organic cacao and chocolate bars provide money in small percentage of profit to foundations that supposedly work toward a cleaner Earth.

Note: Hershey's new dark chocolate bar is NOT good for you. Pick up something a bit more expensive, and more healthy. Check for sugar content, and make SURE that the sugar used (if there is any used) is either cane juice or listed 'cane sugar' rather than just 'sugar'. There is a diference. The only fat additive that should be there is Cacao butter (cocoa butter); No milk or dairy of any sort. If there's dairy, it's not dark chocolate, period. Natural spices and flavoring agents are fine, but watch for alcohol being present with mint-flavored bars. Soy preservatives and smoothing agents are fine, and are present in many types of chocolate.

The best for you, however, is and will remain raw and direct. If you want to eat real, raw Cacao, buy 'Cacao Nibs'. A diet with cacao nibs (whole or sectioned) added near the end of a meal or just as a snack is a great way to begin stopping aging in its tracks. It's also very good for your organs, and supplies very necessary minerals and micronutrients. Raw cacao also has an antioxidant count in the top 5 list of most ORAC charts.

(Clove oil is #1! Who would have thought clove oil would be rich in antioxidants? Not just rich, though... if it was money and not an ORAC count, clove oil could buy the souls of everyone in Africa, I'm telling you.)

Goodluck with whatever you're set out to accomplish by asking this question.

Update: To further answer the question; Raw Cacao contains a good amount of cholesterol lowering agents, a good amount of GOOD cholesterol for your body to use to patch itself up, and VERY effective antioxidants which aid your body in detoxification of the blood. Part of the reason you pressure is so high is because you're crowding the blood with all sorts of radicalized particles, wastes, and toxins. Your organs are troubled and overloaded, and so recirculate much of this. With the antioxidants, however, your organs can now neutralize and get rid of the wastes they're already processing and eliminating, and so the pressure of your blood lowers with the leave of what was taking up space previously occupied by the blood cells and other nutrients. Now, quickly, about theobromine? It can occupy blood space as well, but is eliminated fairly quickly (released slowly, eliminated quickly) and easily, and carries plaques in the blood stream with it; usually through the urine.

You would have to define "raw" chocolate. Cacao, the plant that chocolate is derived from, is very bitter tasting. Dark chocolate is what has been tested in medical studies, and has been proven to lower high blood pressure levels.