By Mike Laycock
CHOCOLATE doesn't only taste good - it is also good for your health, researchers have announced.
That is good news for York chocolate manufacturer Nestle Rowntree, as it seeks to secure the long-term future of the city's
confectionery industry.
Researchers have known for almost two decades that dark chocolate
can lower blood pressure and has other
beneficial effects on blood flow. But now a study by the Johns Hopkins
University School of Medicine and Bloomberg School of Public Health, in
the US, has found it also has a similar biochemical effect to aspirin
and can reduce the likelihood of blood clotting.
Prof Becker said: "Eating a little bit of chocolate or having a
drink of hot cocoa as part of a regular diet is probably good for
personal health, so long as people don't eat too much of it, and too
much of the kind containing lots of butter and sugar."
A Nestle spokeswoman said dark chocolate continued to be extremely popular and this consumer trend was expected to rise, with a
predicted growth of 48 per cent by 2010.
She said: "The popularity of dark chocolate is partly due to a
number studies that have found potential health benefits of consuming
dark chocolate, which is known to be a rich source of
antioxidants, and more
consumers enjoying the intense dark chocolate flavour.
"In response to the
growing dark chocolate trend, Nestle Rowntree has recently launched
KitKat 4 finger dark, which is proving incredibly popular, and of
course Black Magic, our dark chocolate assortment, and After Eight
remain firm favourites."
From: http://www.thisisyork.co.uk/display.var.1024327.0.researcher s_reveal_the_health_benefits_of_chocolate.php
