Eat chocolate and live an extra year

Did you know that a couple of squares of good-quality dark chocolate contain nearly four times the antioxidants of a plum or a handful of Brussels sprouts, writes Anthea Gerrie. 

Here is the latest research on the health benefits of chocolate with 70 per cent cocoa solids or higher. 

For your heart

Research undertaken at the University of Aberdeen shows that flavanols, a form of antioxidant present in chocolate with a high cocoa mass, help prevent the activation of platelets in the blood, which contribute to heart disease. 

Another study conducted in Dusseldorf and at the University of California at Davis suggests consumption of flavanols can even reverse some of the artery damage caused by smoking. 

And last year Professor Carl Keen, of the University of California, reported that eating small amounts of chocolate could have as powerful an anti-clotting effect on the blood as taking aspirin. 

For your brain

Chocolate is one of the richest sources of magnesium, a mineral essential for brain health, according to the Journal Of Medicinal Food. 

Research at Cornell University in New York also found it contains an antioxidant called epicatechin that may protect against the amyloid plaques which cause Alzheimer’s and other brain diseases. 

Research at the Wheeling Jesuit University in West Virginia suggests chocolate can also boost memory, attention span, reaction time and problemsolving skills by increasing blood flow to the brain. 

 

For your immune system

A Japanese study published in the British Journal Of Cancer last year states that phenolics, naturally occurring antioxidants found in chocolate, boost the immune system, and another 2009 report by the Cancer Research Society of Hawaii notes that a further distinctive ingredient, procyanidins, was credited with the same effect in animal studies.

For stress control

Eating 40 grams of dark chocolate every day for two weeks reduces stress hormones in those with moderate to high anxiety, according to a study published in the American Chemical Society’s Journal Of Proteome Research. . . . 

And for longevity...

A study of nearly 8,000 Harvard graduates conducted over 18 years revealed that those who ate chocolate lived almost a year longer than those who did not. The bad news is they were all men – certain benefits of chocolate are believed to be more effective on males than females, for reasons no scientist has yet figured out. lA summary of the health benefits of good chocolate and a list of published scientific studies can be found in The Chocolate Therapist, by Julie Pech, Wiley, £9.99.