Chocolates and Health

Filed in archive on February 14, 2007

Happy Valentine's Day! Did you receive a nice big box of chocolates - you know the ones - they come in a heart-shaped box with a road map of the different varieties.

Should you indulge? Well, of course. We know you're going to. Who could resist? How about your health? Yes, chocolates are loaded with calories, so eat them in moderation, not the entire box at one sitting. If you have any choice in the matter, the Dark chocolate is much healthier than white or milk chocolate. Web MD tells us:

Dark chocolate -- not white chocolate -- lowers high blood pressure, say Dirk Taubert, MD, PhD, and colleagues at the University of Cologne, Germany. Their report appears in the Aug. 27 issue of The Journal of the American Medical Association.

But that's no license to go on a chocolate binge. Eating more dark chocolate can help lower blood pressure -- if you've reached a certain age and have mild high blood pressure, say the researchers. But you have to balance the extra calories by eating less of other things.

Sugar Shock Blog! tells us that Mars Inc. is coming out with a new chocolate bar that's actually touted as being heart healthy. The article says:

Look, to be fair, you can't argue with the increasing number of medical studies which show that flavanols -- naturally occurring chemicals in cocoa -- have beneficial antioxidant and other qualities.

In fact, the CocoaVia website touts the fact that the Original Chocolate Bars "contain natural plant extracts which have been proven to reduce bad cholesterol (LDL)."

So -- enjoy a chocolate or two and have a great Valentine's day.