If you’re feeling stressed, eating about an ounce and a half of dark chocolate each day could reduce stress hormones in your body.
A clinical trial published in the ACS Journal of Proteome Research took a scientific look at the stress-reducing power of dark chocolate. The results: eating about 1.5 oz of dark chocolate each day for two weeks lowered levels of stress hormones in people feeling highly stressed. In addition, researchers note that dark chocolate partially corrected different stress-related biochemical imbalances. This is one of the first studies to analyze how dark chocolate affects stress hormones in humans.

In the published …read more

Chocolate lovers have another reason to celebrate their favorite treat: eating chocolate after a first heart attack may actually improve your survival rate.
Researchers in Sweden followed over 1000 men and women who had experienced a first-ever heart attack. Besides the usual types of questions asked in health questionnaires, these patients were asked about eating habits, including chocolate consumption.
Three months after their discharge from the hospital, the patients were examined and then they were followed by researchers for the next eight years. According to the study findings, which were published in the most recent issue of the Journal of Internal Medicine, …read more

I picked up a package of Q.bel all natural, crunchy crispy Wafer Rolls in Dark Chocolate. I paid $1.69 for a package containing two wafer rolls at my local grocery store, and I was expecting them to be similar to Pirouline. However,  I liked Q.bel much better.

These wafer rolls don’t have room to be lazy. They’re coated with a thick layer of yummy dark chocolate over a crispy (not fragile) wafer. Then, you get more chocolate inside the wafer roll! Yes, I was impressed with the taste, but I’m also happy that the wafer rolls are natural as well.
There’s no …read more

I just found a call for a study I’d volunteer for but – alas – I don’t fit the criteria, nor do I don’t live in Norwich, Norfolk in the United Kingdom.
Researchers there are looking in to the health effects of dark chocolate and they’re recruiting 40 non-smoking women, 75 years or younger, who are postmenopausal (no menstrual period for at least a year), who have type 2 diabetes, and who have been taking cholesterol-lowering medications. The goal is to find if specially made chocolate, with flavonoid compounds, helps decrease the chances of the women developing heart disease.
The trade-off for …read more

Whenever I go to the grocery store, I always check out the dark chocolates. I browse around mooning over this dark chocolate bar and that one. I’m not usually a milk chocolate fan, I like the real thing, the higher the cocoa content the better.
Last week while I was browsing though the chocolate bars I decided to pick up a bar of Endangered Species Chocolate. I loved the wrapper, and 72% cocoa were both a bonus. It was also cool to note that 10% of the profits benefit species habitat and humanity.
I picked out a bar with cranberries and almonds, …read more

Seriously! If you look it up, May 11, 2009 is Eat What You Want Day.
This brings me to what I think is the perfect food. When I was pregnant, all those years ago, I tried to convince my obstetrician that I had the perfect snack for a pregnant woman: A banana split.
Seriously!
Look at it this way. You have your banana. Bananas are high in potassium*, which we need to help regulate blood pressure, replace potassium that was lost due to exercise or sweating (low potassium can cause muscle cramping and heart irregularities), and it helps balance the sodium in your …read more

Dr. Suzanne Steinbaum cardiologist of Lenox Hill Hospital, New York, gave some sweet news for dark chocolate and red wine lovers.
In the interview the doctor explains that by eating dark chocolate and drinking red wine you are actually fighting against heart disease.
Eating one small square of dark chocolate that contains about 30 calories, will aid in fighting high blood pressure and heart disease. Dark chocolate contains flavonids that act as an antioxidant in your system. When eating dark chocolate be sure to read the label to see that it contains at least 70% of cocoa bean content.
Red wine contains the …read more

With Valentine’s Day just around the corner you may want to consider giving your love, a heart healthy treat.
For those of us with partner’s that have high blood pressure or heart problems that love their sweets, this article is a great find. Dark chocolate may be just what the answer you are looking for.
Do you know that cocoa is actually a fruit? We all know that fruits are good for us.
Researchers have found a link that shows cocoa and dark chocolate aid in the fight against cardiovascular disease.  The studies show reduced risk for blood clots, strokes, and heart attacks.
Food …read more

I am not trying to push dark chocolate, but the fact is that we are all trying to improve our health. Our heart is the jewel of our body, when the heart is not functioning properly the whole body suffers.
While looking for ways to improve our heart health we all look for everything available on heart. Finding that a small amount of dark chocolate daily is good for the heart, is a great treat. Dark chocolates are fully loaded with many flavaniods. So by simply eating 1.4 ounces of dark chocolate daily we may improve our heart health.
A spot on …read more

When we think of Christmas we think of cookies, candy and all of the treats that go with the holiday. There are studies that prove that you too, can enjoy Dark Chocolate treats.
If you have high blood pressure, or problems with your heart ask your health care provider about the benefits of Dark Chocolate.
On August 27th, a report in the Journal of the American Medical Association stated that a university in Germany has studied the effects of dark chocolate on lowering blood pressure.
The study shows that eating dark chocolate in moderation tends to lower mild cases of high blood pressure. …read more