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Protects your skin
Conventional wisdom would have you
believe that chocolate can be bad for
your complexion, but researchers have
found that some compounds in cocoa
can actually help protect your skin from
the Sun. A study published in the journal
Nutrition discovered that people who ate
20g of dark chocolate per day over 12
weeks could spend double the amount of
time in front of a UV lamp before their skin
reddened compared with those who had
eaten normal chocolate.7
Keeps you slimPeople who eat chocolate regularly
tend to be thinner, according to a study
of more than 1,000 people who were all
asked: ‘How many times a week do you
consume chocolate?’ The researchers,
who published their results in the Archives
of Internal Medicine, found people who
ate chocolate a few times a week were, on
average, slimmer than those who only ate it
occasionally – even after the other foods in
their diet were taken into account.8
Makes you a genius (maybe...)
A study published in the New England
Journal Of Medicine found a link between
the amount of chocolate eaten per person
and the number of Nobel prize winners in a
country’s population. Switzerland had the
highest levels of chocolate consumption and
the most Nobel laureates. The researchers
calculated that everyone in the UK would
have to munch through about 2kg of
chocolate per year to increase the number of
Nobel laureates. So get eating – your
country needs you!
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Renovates blood vessels
Polishing off a small amount of
chocolate a day can help polish up
your arteries. A study published by the
Federation of American Societies for
Experimental Biology found that men who
had eaten 70g of dark chocolate a day had
healthier blood vessels as a result. The dark
chocolate appeared to help make arteries
more flexible and reduce the stickiness of
white blood cells, two factors that would
help reduce the risk of getting
them clogged up.5
Makes you feel goodA study in the Journal Of
Psychopharmacology found people
who had a 42g dark chocolate drink a
day felt more content than people who
did not. Junee Sangani, a dietitian and
spokesperson for the British Dietetic
Association, explains why: “The
improvement in mood that people can
get from eating chocolate comes from the
release of serotonin and endorphins – the
feel-good chemicals – in the brain.”6
Boosts brain powerAccording to Oxford University
researchers, chocolate can make us
smarter. In a study reported in the Journal
Of Nutrition, researchers examined the
relationship between brain performance and
chocolate consumption of 2,031 Norwegian
people aged between 70 and 74. They
took a battery of brain-power tests and
those who had chocolate (as well as wine
and tea) had significantly better cognitive
performance than those who did not.