Miles Hassell, MD, Providence Health System, Portland, Oregon

One of the most surprising and heartwarming

nutritional discoveries of the last 20 years is that dark chocolate appears to be associated with less heart disease, more flexible arteries, better cholesterol, and lower blood pressure. Much of the benefit is probably associated with a group of chemicals in dark chocolate called phenols, which are also present in tea, extra-virgin olive oil, and many other foods.

Definitive studies have not been done, so don’t go crazy with this idea; however, it is reasonable to use up to one or two ounces daily. Choose dark chocolate with a cocoa content of 70 percent or higher.

However, when you add something like chocolate to your diet, remember to remove calories somewhere else. Gaining weight on chocolate would tend to defeat the purpose.

Excerpted from Good Food, Great Medicine by Miles Hassell, MD and Mea Hassell

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