Healthy Chocolate

Chocolate has been transformed from a "fattening indulgence to a health food," according to the February 2010 issue of "Harvard Women's Health Watch." The publication cites "a steady stream of studies" that show that dark chocolate improves blood clotting, blood pressure, cholesterol levels, coronary artery function and insulin sensitivity. Darker chocolates have more antioxidants, including flavonoids and phenols, than lighter chocolates. Flavonoids can also be found in fruits, red wine, teas and vegetables.

Extends Life

Candy eaters lived almost one year longer than non-candy eaters, and people who ate candy one to three times monthly lived the longest, according to a 1998 "British Medical Journal" article. The conclusions were based on a study of men who entered Harvard University from 1916 to 1950. The survey included chocolate and non-chocolate candies. Study author I-Min Lee attributed the longevity of candy-eaters to chocolate because it contains phenol, an antioxidant, and added that chocolate might cut heart-disease risks by reducing bad cholesterol.

Lowers Blood Pressure

Dark chocolate reduces blood pressure, according to a study published by "The Journal of the American Medical Association" in 2007. Everyone in the study had high blood pressure and was given a small amount of dark chocolate or white chocolate daily for 18 weeks. The systolic, or upper number, and diastolic, or lower number, blood pressure numbers of the dark-chocolate eaters dropped by 3 and 2 millimeters of mercury (mmHg) respectively, but the white-chocolate eaters' blood pressure remained the same. The study's authors attributed the findings to flavonoids, the antioxidants in dark chocolate.

Helps the Heart

Cocoa reduced the number of molecules linked to heart disease in men and women at high risk for heart disease, according to a 2009 "American Journal of Clinical Nutrition" article. This is important because "pure chocolate is made of nonfat cocoa solids and cocoa butter," reported "Harvard Women's Health Watch." Half the people in the study drank milk with cocoa, while the other half drank plain milk. Within one month, the cocoa drinkers had fewer molecules that help form atherosclerotic plaques.

Prevents Strokes

Dark-chocolate eaters have a much lower risk of hemorrhagic stroke, according to a Harvard University study presented at the 2010 American Heart Association conference. The study followed 4,369 healthy middle-aged French women who were healthy in 1993. By 2005, the women who ate "a couple of squares of dark chocolate a day" had 52 percent fewer hemorrhagic strokes, although there were no differences in ischemic strokes. About 20 percent of all strokes are hemorrhagic. The researchers attributed the findings to dark chocolate's flavonoids.

Might Treat Strokes

A compound in dark chocolate could treat strokes in humans someday, according to a 2010 "Journal of Cerebral Blood Flow & Metabolism" article. The researchers treated mice who had strokes with epicatechin, one of dark chocolate's flavonoids, after learning that Panama's Kuma Indians had an "unusually low incidence of stroke" and drank a lot of cocoa with epicatechin. Epicatechin, administered up to 3.5 hours after a stroke, was found to be an effective stroke treatment; standard stroke treatments are not as effective when administered 3.5 hours after a stroke.