CHICAGO, July 3 (AP) — Just a tiny amount of dark chocolate seems to lower blood pressure, a small study suggests.
The new research from Germany adds to mounting evidence linking dark chocolate with health benefits, but it is the first to suggest that so little may suffice.
Volunteers for the study ate just over six grams of dark chocolate a day for almost five months — one square from a German chocolate bar called Ritter Sport, equal to about 1.5 Hershey’s Kisses. People who ate that amount ended up with lower blood pressure readings than those who ate white chocolate.
Dr. Dirk Taubert, a University of Cologne researcher and the study’s lead author, said the blood pressure reductions with dark chocolate were small but still substantial enough to potentially reduce cardiovascular disease risks, although study volunteers were not followed long enough to measure that effect.
The study appears in Wednesday’s Journal of the American Medical Association. It was financed by University Hospital in Cologne.