Researchers have
found that a few squares of dark chocolate daily can reduce the
formation of
sticky platelets in the blood. Fewer sticky platelets in the blood mean
that
there is less chance they can block a narrow artery, and thus that
there is a
lower risk of heart attacks. But amusingly, the participants from this
study
were actually rejects from another study….! They had originally signed
on for an experiment on
the effect of aspirin on blood platelets. The researchers in that study
had
asked participants not to eat foods that were know to mess with
platelet
activity, among them chocolate. But a handful of volunteers could not
resist
the call of the cocoa bean. As it turns out, this lack of will power
has
actually turned into something positive since their blood helped to
prove that
‘some chocolate each day keeps the cardiologist away’.
