RPTM

For a nutritious sugar hit, step into the

dark side…(I have! I don't touch the other stuff now...) Here's the best news: Studies prove

chocolate is good for more than a broken heart or 'that time of the month'!. The secret behind

its powerful punch: cacao. Packed with healthy flavonoids and the chemical theobromine

(which widens blood vessels), this little bean is a disease-fighting dynamite. The problem?

Cacao is bitter, chalky and hardly palatable. Enter milk, sugar and butter – great for tastebuds,

not so for the ole ticker. Besides adding kilojoules, they dilute cacao’s benefits. So stick to

chocolate with at least 70 per cent cacao – or cocoa, which is cacao in roasted, ground form.

Here's some pointers for indulging (don't over do it of course!) on the dark...

A healthier heart. The brown stuff can reduce blood pressure, increase the flexibility of veins,

arteries, cut down on stroke and heart attack risk. The credit goes to flavonoids, which kill off

free radicals, and polyphenols, (also found in red wine). Polyphenols are known to prevent LDL

(bad) cholesterol from oxidising into a form that damages arteries. Tastes better than: an

apple, which has only 20 per cent of the flavonoids of a dark chockie bar.

Cough relief. A study found that chocolate is around 30 per cent more effective at suppressing

persistent coughs than anything available from pharmacies. A stimulant called theobromine,

which also provokes chocolate’s feel-good effect, appears to suppress the activity of the vagus

nerve, which is responsible for coughing. Theobromine was found to be about a third more

effective than codeine, which is regarded the best available cough medicine. Tastes better

than: codeine, which can leave you sleepy and dull.

Happier kids. Babies whose mums ate chocolate daily during their pregnancy are happier than

babies whose mums rarely ate it. A study of 300 women by the University of Helsinki in

Finland found the babies of chocolate-eating mothers smiled and laughed more, and showed

less fear of new situations, possibly because the feel-good effects of the sweet are passed on to

little ones. Tastes better than: chewing on your screaming kid’s dummy.

Guard against diabetes. Confectionery a diabetes foe? Sure is! In an Italian study, participants

who ate a bar of dark chocolate once a day for 15 days saw their potential for insulin resistance

drop by almost half. “Flavonoids increase nitric oxide production,” says the study’s lead

researcher Dr Claudio Ferri, a professor at the University of L’Aquila in Italy. “And that helps

control insulin sensitivity.” Tastes better than: cherries, which have just 18 per cent.