More Evidence of Heart Benefits from Dark Chocolate

I'm eating chocolate twice a day, and taking my vitamins twice a day. It's beginning to look like my less expensive and better tasting chocolate may be more important than those expensive vitamins.

Antioxidants in cocoa might help your heart by keeping your blood vessels relaxed, thus easing blood pressure and helping circulation.

So says a study in Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences. The study shows that cocoa’s antioxidants -- called flavonoids -- coax the body into making more nitric oxide, which relaxes the blood vessels.

The researchers included Norman Hollenberg, MD, PhD, professor of medicine at Harvard Medical School in Boston. He tells WebMD that cocoa’s flavonoids could improve heart health.

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