The Case for Dark Chocolate

Life Goes On
June 10, 2004

Most moms rank good nutrition right up there with clean bathrooms. You know the drill: lots of green vegetables, lean meat, and fruit. All over the television, radio and magazines, marketers have picked up on this swing toward healthy. Even the fast food chains are in on the gig proclaiming new meals with less fat, and offering salads to go – whatever it takes to convince America that their fare isn’t going to clog their veins and kill them off.
Lucky for chocolate manufacturers, they too can jump on this bandwagon. Dark chocolate has been proven to show an “improvement in blood vessel function.” I know this is scientifically accurate because it was posted as a top story on MSN’s news notes. MSN doesn’t headline much about the war or the latest world tragedies; it sticks to really important, breaking news items like how a television show’s footage got a guy off murder charges, and who wore the best dress at a recent Hollywood Gala. It can keep up with the Enquirer any day, and I don’t have to be in the grocery store checkout line to read it. So, when MSN says chocolate is actually good for me, I for one am willing to believe it all the way to the candy rack.
According to the article, testing this medical breakthrough was difficult. Twenty-one people were divided into two groups. Half ate Dove Dark Chocolate bars every day for two weeks. The other half also ate dark chocolate bars, but with the flavonoids taken out. (This makes me imagine a plant with flavor-filled lymph nodes undergoing something similar to a tonsillectomy.) While most of the world sat on edge wondering what the test would prove, I puzzled over how the scientists divided twenty-one people in half. Was the odd guy cut in half, or did he eat half of each kind of chocolate bar?
The results of the test showed the subjects who ate flavonoid-rich dark chocolate bars had improved blood vessel function in terms of ability to dilate and relax. (Stiff blood vessels indicate possible atherosclerosis, which sounds bad even if you pronounce it correctly.) Unfortunately, the guys on the flavonoid-lacking chocolate didn’t do so well on the test, but didn’t seem to mind much. After all, how many flunking grades have you ever made that included getting chocolate free every day for two weeks?
The bottom line is that we can now eat flavonoid-rich dark chocolate and feel good about it…. at least in moderation. I’ve consumed more than a moderate amount while writing this column, but I’m making up for not having had any during the past two weeks. I can feel those blood vessels dilating and relaxing.
Moms around the world are hoping researchers will find something equally revealing about cleaning bathrooms, but at least we can reward ourselves with Dove Dark Chocolate bars afterward, so cleaning toilets won’t seem like such a crappy job.