Wonderful antioxidants we all need

This post was originally published as  Chocolate News! by Laurel on Health Food blog.

Here’s a good reason to pick up some dark chocolate for you or your one true love on Valentine’s Day…and every other occasion after that. A new study published in the Journal of Nutrition concluded that people who regularly eat dark chocolate (in moderate amounts) had 17% lower levels of C-reactive protein (CRP) in their blood. C-reactive protein is found in our blood when there’s inflammation inside the body.Previous research found that people with high CRP levels are at greater risk for diabetes, cardiovascular disease, and hypertension.

Remember that with chocolate, a little goes a long way. Have a small square a few times a week (2-3) to keep your heart healthy. University of Illinois professor of food science and human nutrition, John Erdman, Jr., Ph.D., recommends high-cacao content dark chocolate because it has the most flavanols (a class of flavonoids, or those wonderful antioxidants we all need). (Ref: Body+Soul Magazine, March 2009, p.33)

If you have trouble eating just a little bit of chocolate instead of the whole bar, try cutting it into small pieces that you can take on the go. That way you only have the small piece when you go to eat it later in the day.