Dark Chocolate And Cocoa Powder Lowers Blood Pressure?

Not that we need another reason to love the stuff, but here's a new revelation that positively links your chocolate intake to your heath.

According to Huffington Post, a new research suggests that consuming dark chocolate or cocoa powder every day is linked with slightly lowered blood pressure.

The study's researcher Karin Ried, of the National Institute of Integrative Medicine in Australia, said in a statement, "Although we don't yet have evidence for any sustained decrease in blood pressure, the small reduction we saw over the short term might complement other treatment options and might contribute to reducing the risk of cardiovascular disease."

The researchers used 856 people in 20 different trials, some trials lasting between two to 18 weeks. Subjects were asked to eat anywhere from 30 to 1,080 milligrams of flavonols (which is found in chocolate) every day.

The researchers found that consuming flavonol-containing chocolate or cocoa powder was linked with, on average, a decreased blood pressure of 2 to 3 millimeters of mercury (mm Hg), and comparing consumption of flavonol-containing chocolate or cocoa powder to foods that had no flavonol at all, the blood pressure-lowering effect dropped even greater by an average of 3 to 4 mm Hg.

Now that you got a little information on why chocolate may actually be good for you, do some more research and pig out. Just don't OD on the Reeses and Kit Kats.