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Serving
Lindt Excellence 85% Cocoa Extra fine Dark Chocolate bar
(3.5 OZ, 100 g)


4 squares
Calories 120 calories from Fat 160
Total Fat 18g 28%
Sat Fat 11g 55%
Trans 0g
Cholesterol 0g
Sodium 20g 1%
Total Carbohydrates 8g 3%
Dietary Fiber 3g 12%
Sugars 5g
Protein 4g

Calcium 4%
Iron 15%


Dark Chocolate Lowers Blood Pressure
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.



Antioxidants in Dark Chocolate
Dark chocolate -- but not milk chocolate or dark chocolate eaten with milk -- is a potent antioxidant, report Mauro Serafini, PhD, of Italy's National Institute for Food and Nutrition Research in Rome, and colleagues. Their report appears in the Aug. 28 issue of Nature. Antioxidants gobble up free radicals, destructive molecules that are implicated in heart disease and other ailments.

"Our findings indicate that milk may interfere with the absorption of antioxidants from chocolate ... and may therefore negate the potential health benefits that can be derived from eating moderate amounts of dark chocolate."

Translation: Say "Dark, please," when ordering at the chocolate counter. Don't even think of washing it down with milk. And if health is your excuse for eating chocolate, remember the word "moderate" as you nibble.



The Studies
Taubert's team signed up six men and seven women aged 55-64. All had just been diagnosed with mild high blood pressure -- on average, systolic blood pressure (the top number) of 153 and diastolic blood pressure (the bottom number) of 84.

Every day for two weeks, they ate a 100-gram candy bar and were asked to balance its 480 calories by not eating other foods similar in nutrients and calories. Half the patients got dark chocolate and half got white chocolate.

Those who ate dark chocolate had a significant drop in blood pressure (by an average of 5 points for systolic and an average of 2 points for diastolic blood pressure). Those who ate white chocolate did not.

In the second study, Serafini's team signed up seven healthy women and five healthy men aged 25-35. On different days they each ate 100 grams of dark chocolate by itself, 100 grams of dark chocolate with a small glass of whole milk, or 200 grams of milk chocolate.

An hour later, those who ate dark chocolate alone had the most total antioxidants in their blood. And they had higher levels of epicatechin, a particularly healthy compound found in chocolate. The milk chocolate eaters had the lowest epicatechin levels of all.

Chocolate for Blood Pressure: Darker Is Better
What is it about dark chocolate? The answer is plant phenols -- cocoa phenols, to be exact. These compounds are known to lower blood pressure.

Chocolates made in Europe are generally richer in cocoa phenols than those made in the U.S. So if you're going to try this at home, remember: Darker is better.

Web MD

Thanks for the post. It was a good read. You can also take cocoa in powder form either in capsules ore buy it at the store and add it to splenda for a fat free low calorie drink.

I should get back into it. It was easy and I like all the newer positive findings from your post.

Hershey's cocoa! Here I come!

I can't believe that no one has commented on here. I decided to get Hershey's dark chocolate in powdered form and is unsweetened. It has .5 g of fat per serving so it's nearly fat free.

Nobody's probably read this since it sound like something you'd hear from Oprah.

Chocolate needs a better PR rep.

It's interesting milk blocks absorption of chocolate's antioxidants, since it does so for tea as well.

These are freakin' awesome:

http://www.worldwidechocolate.com/shop_dagoba_250.html

Well, not like there's much to argue here.

I mean, the only person I know who doesn't like chocolate is because she's violently allergic to it.