Savor that chocolate.
It's
not only delectable,
but
also can help control
diabetes
and high blood pressure. 
There's just one
catch.
It must be dark chocolate--not white. A team of researchers
from the University of L'Aquila in Italy has found in a
small study of 15 people that eating 3.5 ounces of dark
chocolate daily for 15 days lowered blood pressure and
improved the body's ability to metabolize sugar from food,
report Reuters Health and the BBC News. That's better than
a prescription medication any day! However, eating the same
amount of white chocolate for the same period had no effect
on either blood pressure or insulin
sensitivity.
Previous research has shown that dark chocolate is packed
with high levels of a type of antioxidant called
flavonoids, which help maintain a healthy heart and good
circulation to reduce blood clotting, which can lead to a
heart attack or stroke. Writing in the American Journal of
Clinical Nutrition, study leader Dr. Claudio Ferri
explained that flavonoids help the body by neutralizing
oxygen-free radicals, substances that are a normal
byproduct of metabolism but which can damage cells known as
oxygen-free radicals.
A word of caution: Moderation is key. While chocolate
is packed with flavonoids, it's also packed with fat and
calories. While you may want to add a bit of chocolate to
your diet, you must be sure to subtract the equivalent
amount of calories by cutting back on other food--or risk
weight gain, notes Reuters. The amount of chocolate
consumed in this study--3.5 ounces daily--is about 500
calories.
The study was published in the American Journal of Clinical
Nutrition.