Chocolate for heart health?

The answer is OH YES. As a chocoholic I have long followed the research on Dark Chocolate and its health benefits and a new international study- taking place in Australia and published in England brought it back into the media. Monash University (AU) recently published an article in the British Medical Journal.

Essentially it enforces something long thought- Dark Chocolate is GOOD for us. But it adds a twist- 100g/day! This is good news for chocolate lovers. Then again we need to remember that 100 grams of dark chocolate is fairly high in calories, but much less than the equivelant of milk chocolate normally is. The other important point here- was at least 70% cocoa mass. Most people previously thought any dark chocolate counted and cocoa mass can be as low as 43% to be labeled as dark in the United States.

This means go forth and eat chocolate (as long as it fits in your other dietary restrictions), savor and enjoy.. But remember that it can't be the only preventative measure if you are high risk for heart disease and stroke, though it can be helpful. The study showed it reduced the # of nonfatal heart attacks by 70/10,000 and the # of fatal ones by 10 in 10,000. This cannot be the only preventative with those numbers, a healthy diet and regular exercise are still best, but combine them with this and people will be in much better shape.

References:
http://www.bmj.com/content/344/bmj.e3657
http://www.monash.edu.au/news/show/a-dark-chocolate-a-day-keeps-the-doct...