Idealogian

Days of Wine and Chocolate

The latest research shows that dark chocolate can have significant health benefits:

A German study published Wednesday in the Journal of the American Medical Association suggests that eating dark chocolate can lower blood pressure. Other experiments show cocoa flavonoids may reduce harmful blood clotting properties and decrease low-density-lipoprotein (LDL), known as the "bad cholesterol."

However, the results differed for milk chocolate:

Lead author Mauro Serafini said the subjects' antioxidant potential did not rise noticeably when they consumed a glass of whole milk with the dark chocolate, or when they ate milk chocolate. He said it's possible that antioxidants bind with milk proteins making absorption more difficult.

I suppose that means it's better to drink chocolate syrup straight up.

And now, through the wonders of selective quotation, I can disregard all the skepticism expressed in the rest of the article and conclude with this partial authoritative quote:

"I guess this means to be healthy you should eat chocolate with red wine," said Andrew L. Waterhouse, a nutrition professor at the University of California at Davis.