Delicious Sin: Top Ten Reasons Why Chocolate Is Good for You
Robert Latkany, MDSeptember 27, 2009
Halloween is coming and we thought we’d get a jump on the holiday. Over the next few weeks, we’ll be deluged by the tyranny of the orange and black. 
Well, we’ve got good news-while you may fear for your kids’ dental health, research shows that chocolate isn’t that terrible. As the big day approaches, you can ameliorate your guilt day by day with our Top Ten Reasons Why Chocolate is Good For You. That way, when you dip into the Halloween candy on October 20th, you can feel better about yourself. Remember: everything in moderation and if you have to cheat, eat dark chocolate. It’s better for you.
10. Smarter? Elderly men and women who had a diet high in flavonoid-rich foods like wine and chocolate performed better on cognitive tests. (Nurk et al)
9. Pregnancy Protection? Pregnant women who consumed at least 5 servings per week of chocolate were less likely to develop preeclampsia during early and late pregnancy than pregnant women who consumed less than one serving per week. (Triche et al)
8. Aging Skin Protection? Flavonol preserved chocolate consumption was shown to protect the skin against the sun’s harmful Ultraviolet radiation. Conventional processed chocolate did not protect the skin. (Williams et al)
7. Psychological Well-being? Elderly men who ate more chocolate were found to exercise more, had a lower body mass index, were more optimistic, and had a better psychological well-being when compared to elderly men who preferred to eat other types of candy. (Strandberg et al)
6. Heart protection? The antioxidant properties of flavonoid-rich dark chocolate decreased platelet adhesion, and increased the diameter of coronary artery blood vessels two hours after consumption. (Flammer et al)
5. Better Endurance Capacity? Trained male cyclists were able to cycle 50% longer after consuming chocolate milk when compared to a carbohydrate recovery drink or a fluid replacement drink. (Thomas et al)
4. Raise good cholesterol, lower bad cholesterol? Healthy subjects who consumed dark chocolate (>700mg flavonoids/day) for 1 week lowered their LDL by 6% (bad cholesterol) and raised their good cholesterol by 9%. (Hamed et al)
3. Lower Blood Pressure? A meta-analysis of the benefits of cocoa administration (mean duration 2 weeks) on blood pressure revealed a drop in systolic blood pressure by 4.7 points and a drop in diastolic blood pressure by 2.8 points. (Taubert et al)
2. Better Sex? Two groups of females (one who ate chocolate and the other who did not) with similar body mass indices were compared on female sexual function index scores and the group who ate chocolate scored significantly higher than the group who did not eat chocolate. (Salonia et al)
1. Immortality? In those non-diabetics who survived their first heart attack, chocolate consumption appears to reduce their chances of cardiac mortality. The more chocolate they consumed the less likely they would induce cardiac mortality. (Janszky et al)
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Reply #1 on : Fri October 02, 2009, 09:13:51
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