Chocolate Improves Your Health And Keeps You Young, According To This Study

Pixabay

Finally, the universe has answered all of our prayers: there is a really good reason to eat chocolate every day, according to this study on aging.

Consumer reports conducted research, published in the journal Heart, of 21,000 adults’ chocolate intake. The results were striking. Individuals who consumed the most chocolate in a day — at least half an ounce and up to three and a half ounces — had a 25 percent lower risk of heart disease. They were also 23 percent less likely to suffer from a stroke over an 11-year follow-up period.

For reference, a regular-sized Hershey’s bar is one and a half ounces, so those who indulged the most were potentially eating a bar of chocolate a day.

Pixabay

So, how does chocolate lead to better heath with all that sugar, saturated fat and — hello, calories?!

Chocolate is very high in flavonoids, which have been shown in a variety of studies to have positive effects on heart disease risk, as well as blood flow to the brain. Chocolate’s properties also help keep “telomeres,” or protective caps on your chromosomes, in place, which slows down the aging process.

If you’re interested in putting this study to the test on your own body, you should probably stick with dark chocolate, which has the same amount of flavonoids as milk chocolate, but less sugar and saturated fat.

Chocolate lovers: the cocoa heavens have spoken. Indulge yourself.