Is it really possible to get sick of eating chocolate?
According to feedback from participants in a medical research study out of Australia, it is! What, no way! Sure enough, read on…
Heart patients were given 50 grams of 70% chocolate to be consumed daily as medicine during a research study on how the antioxidants in chocolate help control blood pressure.
By the end of the study, many participants said they would rather take a pill containing the antioxidants than eat any more chocolate. About half the people in the study found the chocolate difficult to eat because of the strong flavor and about 20 percent “considered it an unacceptable long-term treatment option” over the concern for the fat and calories from the chocolate.
Although I wouldn’t have a problem eating 50 grams of 70% chocolate each day (ahem, I do eat 50 grams of 70% a day), I guess I can understand where they are coming from. First of all, if you prefer milk chocolate, dark chocolate is not going to stay palatable for very long, and second, who wants to take chocolate as medicine – dispensed like a prescription drug? I mean, besides a freak like me?
The good news is, the study found dark chocolate to be very helpful in reducing blood pressure.
I doubt that doctors will start handing out chocolate instead of pill prescriptions (but one can dream) so for now, eat chocolate because it is fun and has great flavor. Oh, and because it is good for you, too!
Here’s a simple example that you’re familiar with. Think of a slice of apple turning brown shortly after you cut it. This is discoloring demonstrates the damage that oxidation causes on the cells of the apple. If instead of leaving the slice out in the open air, you dip immediately in some lemon juice, the brown oxidative damage slows w-a-y down. In this case the lemon juice is the antioxidant.
