Take two dark chocolates and call me in the morning

It seems that dark Chocolate is the new wonder food. Researchers in Japan have shown that consumption of the food can improve coronary blood flow. Coronaries are the blood vessels of the heart.

Through that distribution system the heart gets its oxygen, nurtients, and removal of CO2. When a portion of this gets blocked and no blood can flow, its called a heart attack as heart cells deprived of oxygen begin to die. To fix it you have to undergo a Coronary artery bypass graft (CABG or cabbage in medspeak) that creates a detour around the blockage

news.yahoo.com...;_ylt=Au7NqG0EGpF_X0_D7yTAU1es0NUE

[edit on 11/5/07 by FredT]

Aha! So my dietary obsession is not a food addiction, but preventative medicine. It's good for preventing tooth decay, too.

I think I'm going to stop worrying about Type II diabetes and eat more chocolate!

Woohoo! This is awesome!
I can now be referred to as a health nut!
I think that there are lots of foods that are getting a bad name but actually have benefits. It all goes back to moderation. In moderation wine is good for you. The same goes for this dark chocalate. Too much and it makes you fat.

What about milk chocolate, is that excluded because it has more sugar and contains milk?
I like dark and milk chocolate, I'd hate to feel I get no benefits from MC.

Trouble is, it's not simple to find simple, real dark chocolate. Look at the ingredients of your typical store-bought bar.

Also, look at the story. It says 555 mg. That's milligrams. That amount is a tiny bit more than half the weigh of a standard paperclip (1 g.)

That can't be right - that's less than half a chocolates chip, those little drops they put in cookies.

The size of a normal bar is 39g (1.45 oz)

Here's the correct info from Consumer Reports:

The Natural Medicines Comprehensive Database, an evidence-based compendium that evaluates natural products, even provides dosage information: "For isolated systolic hypertension and essential hypertension, 100 grams/day of dark chocolate rich in cocoa polyphenols has been used." A chocolate bar about that weight can set you back approximately 500 calories and 30 grams of fat.

It might be that one could remove some of the sugar or calories from it without negating the flavinoids and polyphenols.

Anyone get CR for Sept? They make you subscribe to get anything.

Originally posted by FredT
Through that distribution system the heart gets its oxygen, nurtients, and removal of CO2. When a portion of this gets blocked and no blood can flow, its called a heart attack as heart cells deprived of oxygen begin to die. To fix it you have to undergo a Coronary artery bypass graft (CABG or cabbage in medspeak) that creates a detour around the blockage

You can do an angioplasty too.

reply to post by Toadmund


Sorry, you get no healthful benefits from 'milk chocolate'. That was a scam perpetrated by the food industry to 'fake' chocolate and replace the cocoa butter with artificial flavor and sugar. Though it sounds 'healthy' milk chocolate is only a few percent actual cocoa.

From Wiki:

The candy bars sold in America often no longer have true chocolate as a major component. This is especially true for much candy passed as "white chocolate", which need not contain anything from the cacao bush at all.

You can thank the food industry, because the "Chocolate Industry" is now campaigning the FDA to remove cocoa butter from DARK chocolate too and replace it with the cheaper hydrogenated fats and oils and still call the result 'Chocolate'

(ref: CR, 9:07)