Dark choc has 'significant' health benefits

Lead researcher Ella Zomer said that the team's findings indicate that dark chocolate could provide an alternative to - or be used to complement - drug therapy in people who are at high risk of heart attacks and strokes. Her research partner Chris Reid said that results obtained from the 2,013 people with high blood pressure, high cholesterol or high body weight showed that there was a clear difference in projections of likely deaths and other non-fatal events between those who ate dark chocolate and those who did not.

"One of the appeals of this study is here is a dietary alternative which may be quite appealing to a lot of people," Reid said. Generally speaking, high-cocoa chocolate is beneficial because it contains antioxidant chemicals called polyphenols which reduce blood pressure and improve blood flow by keeping blood vessels dilated. Experts have cautioned that excessive consumption of dark chocolate leads to obesity, itself a leading cause of cardiovascular disease, but, Reid said "[w]e're not suggesting that the high-risk group use dark chocolate as their only preventative measure, but in combination with sensible choices, such as exercise," iafrica.com says.

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