I love dark chocolate, myself.
I have a frozen Ghirardelli square every couple of days or so and it is
decadence.
I'm pasting below a document that got passed around the office a while back concerning the health benefits of moderate amts of chocolate...
Safety Focus
Health Benefits of Chocolate If it tastes good it must be bad, so the saying goes, but dark chocolate may be the exception to the rule. From a presentation at the 2002 American Association for the Advancement of Science's (AAAS) annual meeting to a June 2005 Reuter’s Health article, there are a number of articles that correlate the complex chemistry of cocoa and other dark chocolates with keeping high blood pressure down, your blood flowing and your heart healthy as well as improving the body’s sensitivity to insulin.
Flavonoids Flavonoids are naturally-occurring compounds found in plant-based foods that provide important protective benefits to plants, such as in repairing damage and shielding from environmental toxins.
When we consume plant-based foods rich in flavonoids, it appears that we also benefit from this “antioxidant� power. Antioxidants are believed to help the body’s cells resist damage caused by free radicals, formed by normal bodily processes such as breathing or environmental contaminants like cigarette smoke.
Flavonoids are found in a wide array of foods and beverages, such as cranberries, apples, peanuts, chocolate, onions, tea and red wine.
Dr. Norman Hollenberg, physician and professor of medicine at Brigham and Women’s Hospital and Harvard Medical School, began studying the effects of chocolate when he learned that the indigenous residents of a Panamanian island, Kuna, rarely develop high blood pressure, although they drink about 5 cups of cocoa each day and include cocoa in many recipes. If they leave the island and the cocoa, the risk of high blood pressure increases.1 Chocolate contains more than 300 known chemicals, some of which react within the human brain to release endorphins, proteins which occur naturally in the brain to reduce pain, which in large amounts can make you feel more relaxed or energetic; stimulants that raise blood pressure and blood glucose levels include caffeine, theobromine and phenylethylamine; anandamide which promotes relaxation and may cause the craving for chocolate; and flavonoids.2
When we consume plant-based foods rich in flavonoids, it appears that we also benefit from this “antioxidant� power. When the body lacks adequate levels of antioxidants, free radical damage ensues, leading to increases in LDL-cholesterol oxidation and plaque formation on arterial walls. Less than 1.5 ounces of milk-chocolate contains the same amount of antioxidants as a glass of red wine. Dr. Jeffrey Blumberg, a professor of nutrition at Tufts University, did a study on men and women with hypertension (high blood pressure) and found that three ounces of dark chocolate per day over several weeks reduced blood pressure in patients and also seemed to provide a benefit on their insulin sensitivity. The individuals dropped their systolic blood pressure (the number on top) an average of 11.9 mm Hg and their diastolic blood pressure (the lower number) an average of 8.5 mm Hg. Patients eating white chocolate had no drop in blood pressure. Blumberg believes that dark chocolate can be good for you and included as part of a healthful diet in patients with hypertension. However, you can’t just add it on top of your diet since it’s still a high calorie food.3 The usual serving of chocolate might be a chewy caramel-marshmallow-nut-covered dark chocolate bar. What wrecks havoc on most chocolate products is the additional fat and calories from the other ingredients. So be cautious when consuming chocolate. Although a gooey chocolate bar may be too much, we do know that you no longer need to feel guilty if you enjoy a small piece of dark chocolate once in awhile.
More research in this area is needed to determine just how much chocolate we chocolate-lovers can eat in order to acquire cardio-protective benefits. Mars Incorporated, a candy company, is working with several pharmaceutical companies to isolate and develop cocoa components as cardiovascular pharmaceuticals. So the time may be near when your doctor can say, “Take a candy bar and call me in the morning. “ Until that time, enjoy chocolate in moderate portions a few times per week. Don’t forget to eat other flavonoid-rich foods like apples, red wine, tea, onions and cranberries.
