If you are tired of listening to everything you are doing wrong for your health adding to a list of things you already feel stressed enough about the following news should be a welcome sigh of relief. According to a new study just published in the journal Heart here is something you can do that will that will lower your risk of heart disease by 25% and associative death risk by 45%- eat some chocolate.
You heard right. Chocolate – but not just any chocolate mind you, it should have a cocoa content of 70% or more. That is easy enough to find these days at most grocery chains and Trader Joe’s offers some delectable choices in this regard.
This most recent study emanated from the well known Norfolk Study, involving 25,000 men and women in Norfolk, England who are having their diet and lifestyles tracked for health research. The researchers combined information with the Norfolk Study and available information from the EPIC study accounting for more than 158,000 people lest you doubt the results.
Chocolate consumption also led to an 9% decrease in hospitalizations. CRP levels (inflammatory protein) were also lower among chocolate lovers. The highest levels of chocolate consumption were associated with a 23% lower incidence of stroke as well. That in itself should be enough make everyone take notice.
Combine chocolate consumption into your daily walking regimen and you can feel a lot less guilty for not making it to the gym on a daily basis, in fact you are probably going to be healthier than those folks who leave the gym and go to an office for the rest of the day.
This study concurs with a multitude of other studies including a Harvard study on the Kuna Indians of Panama who average 5 cups of cocoa a day and have zero incidence of stroke, heart disease, or cancers unless they move away from their native islands to the Panama mainland and reduce their cocoa consumption.
If you are not a big chocolate bar fan you can buy cocoa nibs online and grind them up with your coffee beans and flavor to taste. It makes a wonderful morning starter and as the above evidence attests it will add a lot more mornings to your life.
Enjoy!
