Sweet Tooth Bolsters Heart Health

More sweet news for chocoholics: Small doses of dark chocolate—even candy-aisle favorites like Dove or Hershey's—may reduce blood pressure by 2-3 points, new research shows. The study, published today in the Journal of the American Medical Association, suggests commercial chocolate can provide some of the same benefits as the high-flavanol lab concoctions tested in earlier studies.

Flavanols—chemicals found in cacao beans—are thought to reduce blood pressure by triggering the release of nitric oxide, which relaxes blood vessels and allows blood to flow more easily. Prior to this study, researchers had doubted the health benefits of commercial chocolate, since flavanols can be lost during the manufacturing process. (More heart disease stories.)