If you’re a chocoholic, the news out of England is tantalizing:
middle-aged and older adults who eat up to 3.5 ounces of chocolate a day
(that’s more than two standard Hershey bars) seem to have lower rates
of heart disease than those who spurn chocolate. At least that was the
conclusion of a study that followed the health of nearly 21,000 resident
of Norfolk, England, for 11 years. Most of the previous studies on the
chocolate-heart connection found that only dark chocolate offered any
cardiovascular protection.
In the Norfolk study, any type of chocolate,
including milk chocolate, seemed to have the same beneficial effect. I
routinely write my patients a prescription for exercise, and sometimes
for eating more vegetables and fruits. I won’t be writing any
prescriptions for chocolate in the foreseeable future. But I won’t be
telling them not to eat chocolate—in moderation of course.
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