Researchers Want To Sentence Overweight People With High Blood Pressure To 10 Years Of Chocolate

Studies on the health benefits of dark chocolate have been making steady headlines. Derived from cocoa beans, dark chocolate is a fermented food rich in polyphenols, natural chemicals known for protective benefits against blood pressure and inflammation.

And now Australian researchers have performed astudy that leads them to theorize that daily doses of dark chocolate could be a lifesaver for people suffering from metabolic syndrome. You have metabolic syndrome when you’re overweight, hypertensive, prediabetic and at high risk for heart disease. Experts estimate that applies to 50 million Americans. The Australians think that 10 years of eating a few squares of dark chocolate every day could help folks with metabolic syndrome avert fatal strokes and heart attacks

The Aussie scientists note that daily dark chocolate might cost about $45 a year per person, a substantial savings from the $50,000 it costs for medical care when your heart goes on the blink.

But some scientists aren’t readily swallowing this advice.

“Recommendations for daily consumption of dark chocolate … will certainly get people with metabolic syndrome excited, but at this point these findings are more hypothetical than proven, and the results need real-life data to confirm,” says skeptic Dr. Kenneth Ong, chief of cardiology at the Brooklyn Hospital Center.