It's many people's favourite vice - but if the latest evidence is to be believed, the last thing you should feel when you secretly tuck into hunk of chocolate is guilty. Scientists have revealed that eating chocolate - in reasonable amounts - makes you feel emotionally better and so improves the smooth running of your body's endorphins. It even protects against heart disease. So here we tell you all you need to know and reveal why we should all, occasionally, indulge in a sweet treat...
Chocolate makes you live longer
Researchers at Harvard University in the U.S. studied 8,000 men for 65 years and found that those who ate modest amounts of chocolate up to three times a month, lived almost a year longer than those who didn't eat any. They concluded that this is likely to be due to the fact that cocoa contains antioxidants called polyphenols, also found in red wine, which prevent the oxidation of harmful cholesterol. Antioxidants are also known to protect against cancer.
Chocolate is good for stress
This is thought to be because it contains valeric acid, which is a relaxant and tranquilliser. Also, the sugar in chocolate may reduce stress - sugar has been shown to have a calming and pain-relieving effect on babies and animals because sweet tastes activate the opiate-like substances in our brain.
We all know that chocolate makes us feel better
There are a number of scientific reasons for this. The smell of chocolate has been found to slow down brain waves, making us feel calm. Most of the time our brains are dominated by beta waves - normal waking frequency. When our brain activity slows to alpha waves, we experience a pleasant feeling of calm but alert relaxation. Also, because most of us find eating chocolate so pleasurable, we release endorphins (also released during sex) in the brain. These have similar pharmacological actions as morphine, acting as pain-relievers and giving us a sense of wellbeing.
Chocolate does not give you spots
Although many teenagers blame chocolate for their acne, there's no scientific data to confirm this link. Scientists at Missouri University even gave spot-prone subjects chocolate to eat and observed their skin for the next week - with no effect.
