For Medicinal Purposes

I remember an old Buck Rogers episode. He's traveled to the future and is offered a heavily marbled steak, cream puffs and candy for dinner. Unlike the doctors of his time, medical professionals had discovered that these foods are very beneficial to health. Such are the dreams of science fiction. Right?

Maybe not. Dark chocolate is starting to sound like the new miracle drug. Many of us have experienced the mood enhancing properties of chocolate in any form. Dark chocolate has a lot of additional benefits:

Aging and Heart Disease
Dark chocolate contains a large amount of antioxidants. According to one article, nearly eight times as many as strawberries. Antioxidants protect the body from free radicals, which cause all kinds of damage and can lead to heart disease. Dark chocolate has also been shown to reduce bad cholesterol by up to 10 percent.

Cancer Prevention and Treatment
Dark chocolate joins berries, soy, parsley and red wine as an anti-angiogenesis food. That's a food that stops tumors from making new blood cells and consequently from growing. Eating more than one of the foods will increase the effect. Wine, Chinese and dark chocolate make a healthful meal? I like that.

Stroke Prevention
Neurologists are now reviewing studies that show a relationship between the consumption of dark chocolate and the prevention of strokes. They caution that other factors could be influencing the study results. Wealth for example. Wealthier people, who could afford to buy more chocolate, could also afford better health care. Health-conscious individuals may consume more dark chocolate because they are aware of it's other health benefits. They may also be doing regular workouts at the gym. Additional studies are needed to eliminate these factors.

I'm not wealthy and I don't work out at the gym. Or anywhere else. I plan to consume a lot more dark chocolate and see how it goes. Understand that my motives are pure. I'm just trying to help with the research.