Good News and Bad News About Chocolate

Well there's good news and bad news on the health front. Chocolate, at least the right king of chocolate, is good for you. It seems that dark chocolate lowers blood pressure. Yea! Unfortunately, it only takes a small amount to get the job done -- the equivalent of just 2 tiny Hershey's Kisses. (Boo!) And here I was hoping to add a box of bonbons a day to my daily diet plan. Oh, well.

New research from Germany adds to other studies that have linked chocolate with health benefits but is the first to suggest that a tiny amount will do the job. Study volunteers who ate about 6 grams of dark chocolate daily for nearly five months (the equivalent of 1 1/2 Hershey's Kisses) lowered their blood pressure. A control group who ate the same amount of white chocolate did not.

Although decreases in blood pressure readings were typically small among study participants, scientists believe it is enough to potentially reduce the risk of cardio-vascular disease. Because of the high number of calories usually found in chocolate bars, the study tested small amounts of chocolate -- the equivalent of 30 calories -- which would not adversely impact weight gain.