Good and Bad News For Chocolate Lovers

For the past few years, various studies have linked dark chocolate with health benefits.

Now, the July 4 issue of the Journal of the American Medical Association reports more good news.  Forty-four adults who ate dark chocolate every day for 18 weeks lowered their blood pressure compared to those who ate white chocolate.  Dark chocolate contains cocoa.  White chocolate does not.  Researchers think that the dark chocolate prompts chemical changes that help widen blood vessels and improve blood pressure.

The bad news?  It only took a small amount of dark chocolate – just 6 grams, or just one square from a candy bar -- to lower the blood pressure in the study group.  Although the blood pressure was lowered only a small amount even small decreases in blood pressure can reduce risks of heart disease and stroke.

The small square of chocolate had only 30 calories.  So this isn’t an OK to eat as much chocolate as you wish.  But in addition to the proven methods of losing weight and eating less salt for lowering blood pressure, you may want to add a little dark chocolate!

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