Who doesn't love dark chocolate? (And we know Lauren Salkeld definitely digs the peanut-butter version.)
Now there's reason not to feel guilty about dark-chocolate obsessions: A new study says that the stuff may help you handle stress. (For four other foods that mess with stress, check out Megan Steintrager's recent post.)
"The study provides strong evidence that a daily consumption of 40 grams of dark chocolate during a period of two weeks is sufficient to modify the metabolism of free living and healthy human subjects, as per variation of both host and gut microbial metabolism," according to the researchers, whose study will be published in the Journal of Proteome Research.
In other words: "Consuming dark chocolate daily can positively impact the metabolism of people that report having high-stress levels," lead scientist Sunil Kochhar said.
Now, you should take this with a grain or two of salt. (Which, by the way, tastes fantastic if you take it literally.)
For one, the study was conducted by the Nestlé Research Center in Lausanne, Switzerland. I think I heard somewhere once that some company by the name of Nestlé had something to do with chocolate products or candy or something. I wonder if there's a connection ....
Secondly, the study didn't use a particularly large sampling. Kochhar and his colleagues conducted their study on 30 healthy adult volunteers who ate two portions of 20 grams of dark chocolate every day for 14 days. Not exactly a comprehensive study.
But on the other hand: Dark chocolate tastes damn good.
by Michael Y. Park
MORE FROM EPICURIOUS.COM
22 traditional and unconventional recipes for cooking with chocolate
Recipe and tips for fitting sweets into a balanced diet
20 delicious recipes and tips to help you make tastier sandwiches
21 top-rated Thanksgiving recipes from turkey to pumpkin pie and more
