A Piece of Chocolate a Day Keeps the Doctor Away

New reseearch suggests dark chocolate, eaten daily, could help prevent fatal cardiovascular events. 

Chocolate Reviews/Flickr

Eating dark chocolate every day for 10 years could reduce the incidence of such cardiovascular events as heart attacks and strokes in those with metabolic syndrome, a group of risk factors for heart disease and diabetes, according to an Australian study.

The investigators developed a mathematical model to predict the health effects and cost effectiveness of daily dark chocolate consumption over 10 years. They performed a meta-analysis of several studies involving 2,013 people with high blood pressure and who met the criteria for metabolic syndrome.