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.

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