Study: Dark chocolate improves blood vessels

? Feeding chocolate to a bunch of middle-age, overweight people for weeks on end may not be as unhealthy as it seems.

Researchers found that six weeks of daily consumption of a dark chocolate cocoa mix significantly improved the blood vessel health of those who participated in the study.

The study is the latest in a growing number that link reduced heart disease risk to flavonoids in dark chocolate and other food and beverages, such as red wine, green tea and dark-colored fruits and vegetables.

“There are hundreds if not thousands of flavonoids in every plant substance we eat,” said James Stein, director of preventive cardiology at the University of Wisconsin School of Medicine and Public Health.

“This is a very hot area. This study confirms what other investigators have found.”

Flavonoids have been found to relax blood vessels and thereby improve blood flow, inhibit platelets from sticking together in the blood, and have a beneficial antioxidant effect. What still is not known is whether regularly eating dark chocolate, especially with its high sugar and fat content, eventually will lead to an unhealthy weight gain that would erase the beneficial effects of the flavonoids found in the cocoa.