Dark Chocolate: Its Many Health Benefits

Mark Sisson discusses the many health benefits of delicious, dark, high-cacao chocolate.

Yes, I know, I know. That title isn't exactly comforting. I hate giving you guys bad news, seeing as how you make this website possible, and I hate making unpopular recommendations like "eat more butter" or "get some sun" or "drink a glass of red wine," but I have to stick to the truth here, even if it hurts. And the truth is that you should probably be eating dark chocolate on a semi-regular basis because the stuff is pretty dang good for you. Before you log out, never to return again, give me a minute to explain myself:

You were kids once. Your parents probably forced you to finish your overcooked, mushy, bland veggies or wash your hands and finish your homework – or some other routine unpleasantry – "for your own good," and that's what I'm doing here. Dark chocolate is healthy. It may be awful, terrible, and disgusting, but it contains some really good things that have some remarkable effects on various markers of health. So, yeah, eat your chocolate. Finish your raw cacao powder. Choke down that homemade hot chocolate. Hold your noses if you have to, but get it down and done. Read more

Dark Chocolate: The New Antianxiety Drug?

Chocolate is a comfort food and for good reason. It really does relieve anxiety. A new study found that eating chocolate reduced levels of their stress hormones, and the changes were “biologically significant."

OK, so it may not be kosher for me to report on a chocolate study that was conducted by an employee of a chocolate maker at the chocolate maker’s own research lab. Get over it. The results of this new study are intriguing and shed more light on the biochemical basis behind dark chocolate’s health benefits.

The team of researchers was led by Sunil Kochhar, PhD, who heads the BioAnalytical Science Department at the Nestlé Research Center in Switzerland. He and his colleagues designed the study to see whether eating dark chocolate every day for two weeks could affect the way the body metabolizes stress hormones. Read more

Boost Brain Power : Eat Chocolate, Drink Wine and Tea can

Eating chocolate and drinking wine and tea can improve your memory, according to a new study.

Researchers discovered that wine has the most pronounced effect in boosting people's memory, followed by chocolate and tea.

And those who regularly consume all three in modest amounts were found to perform best when asked to carry out a series of brain tests. Read more

Coffee and Chocolate Key to Long Life

Chocolate, coffee and tea are among the key foods and drinks needed to live a long and healthy life, according to a leading nutritional scientist.

Professor Gary Williamson, from the department of food science at Leeds University, has produced a list of 20 "lifespan essential" foodstuffs.

All are rich in naturally occurring chemicals, known as polyphenols, which have been linked to a variety of health benefits including protection against heart disease. Read more

Eating Dark Chocolate Daily Helps Hearth Stay Healthy

Dark chocolate is a natural remedy that tastes good and is good for you, but more isn't better unfortunately.

A small square of dark chocolate daily protects the heart from inflammation and subsequent heart disease, a new study of Italians suggests. Milk chocolate might not do the job.

However, this guilty pleasure has a limit. Read more